


When Worlds Collide

by skye_inkwell



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-19 09:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 31,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29624394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skye_inkwell/pseuds/skye_inkwell
Summary: Claire liked to think she lived a simple life. Well... a simple life with a big secret. Being Spider-Girl was never the easiest task to take on. And it wasn't going to get any easier. Since she was still a beginner in training, Tony Stark, who was also the man that adopted her, had her start in the shady city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Soon enough she's able to move to New York, but there's a twist: There's another spider already there. Will Claire be able to work through her stubborn ways and learn to work together with a team?
Relationships: Peter Parker & Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. Introduction

**A/N I do not own Avengers, Marvel, or anything that has to do with the movies. I only own my own character. I will not be following the movie storylines as this will be my own ideas and scenes, but I will be using the original characters as part of the story. Also, everything takes place after Avengers: Endgame... but no one is dead :)**

**Also, PLEASE comment publicly or privately about what you think. The feedback will not only be** **greatly appreciated, but I'll be able to use that for motivation on my next story!**

  
_October 13th, 2016_

An echo rang through the ally as Spider-Girl slammed the man up against the brick wall. He was tall and lean, wearing a black ski mask, and grunted from the blow. His gun was still lying next to the tin trash can, exactly where she'd kicked it. As usual, Milwaukee was up and active with burglaries. 

"Where's the cash?" She demanded through her mask. He tried prying my hand away from his throat, but it was no use. He should know that his strength is nothing compared to her spider-enhanced abilities. She slammed him harder when he didn't answer.

"Ah! Alright, alright! It's over there!" He pointed to a large dumpster container. Spider-Girl dropped him to the ground and shot webs from her wrist at him to keep him from escaping. He moaned frustratingly when he was reattached to the wall and squirmed around. She stepped over glass bottles and paper boxes as she made her way to the bin. Lifting the top, her eyes peered inside, and saw a large, lumpy brown bag. Snatching it out with her web, she could see red and blue flashing lights illuminating the walls of the alleyway. Immediately she tossed the bag near the burglar and cast herself up on top of one of the buildings, out of sight. Police cars skidded to a stop by the alleyway with cops getting out saying 'freeze!' and 'don't move!'. Shooting webs atop the buildings, she made her way home. It was almost three in the morning and she had school tomorrow. Her eyes drooped. At least tomorrow was Friday. Her body ached as she swung through the city on her way to her apartment building. It helped to live on the top floor of a building. That way not many people saw her enter through the window. 

After closing the window behind her and pulling the blinds shut, she bunched the forehead of her spider mask into the palm of her hand and pulled, taking a deep breath of fresh air as her face was relieved from the hot fabric. Her body slumped against the wall and she released her hair from the tight ponytail she'd put in place before patrolling tonight. Suddenly she heard a beep from her web shooter around her left wrist and glanced down. 

_Incoming Call: Tony_

She ran her fingers through her long, brown hair then answered. A hologram of Tony Stark appeared in front of her as her wrist projected the image. He was standing and working on something, probably his suit. 

"Hi Claire," He said with a glance. "I see I caught you just in time, you're still in your suit." 

"I just got back from patrol." He nodded his head as he grabbed a wrench and continued working. 

"I see. How's that going by the way?" Claire shrugged.

"It's not any more challenging than it was yesterday, or the day before that, or the day before that. It's the same thing; robberies, drug deals, smugglers." 

"Hm," He hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I'm sure you know that most crimes are repetitive, Claire. New York isn't much different in that category."

"I know, dad." When she was only a few months old her parents passed away in the Twin Tower attack on September eleventh, 2001. They'd both ran into the towers to try to help people escape, leaving her with one of their trusted coworkers, Pepper Potts, that offered to keep Claire safe. They were very successful businessmen and did top-secret work for Tony Stark. So when they were pronounced dead at the scene, Tony took Claire in and adopted her. 

"The severity of the crimes in New York might be higher, but it's going to be a lot of the same stuff over and over again like you just explained." He rubbed the back of his neck tiredly with a wince. 

"It's four in the morning in New York," She said matter of factly. "Why are you up so late?" He sighed and looked at me. 

"A superhero's job never ends. I need to finish my altercations to my suit." 

"Get to bed soon, though. I'm going in a few minutes." He nodded his head and sat down in a chair that magically appeared in the hologram.

"Right, that's a good idea." She could tell he wanted to tell her something else. "Get some sleep and I'll call you back tomorrow. Deal?" She smiled gently.

"Deal." He smiled too. 

"Good. Goodnight sweetheart."

"Goodnight, dad." The hologram glitched and then disappeared, leaving Claire alone again. Slowly from the soreness in her body, she peeled the suit away from her skin and delicately flattened out the wrinkles before folding it tightly and storing it into the hidden pocket of her college-school backpack. Standing up with a hiss, she changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, brushed her teeth, and headed straight for bed, cuddling herself up under the covers. 


	2. New York

It was difficult for her to get up the next morning. She felt as though she could barely open her eyes to turn off the alarm she'd set on her phone. Somehow she managed to build enough strength to roll herself over and click at the phone with her eyes still closed. Needless to say, she missed many times. She rubbed her eyes and sat herself up, swinging her legs to the edge of the bed. Chills ran up her body as she flung the covers away to the other side of the bed and got up, grabbing a sweater and pair of jeans from the closet. October was one of the coldest fall months in Wisconsin, not that New York was any better. The sweater hung off her shoulder a little, but she'd quickly decided she didn't really care as she continued to slip on her Adidas and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Claire's phone buzzed in her back pocket. She pulled it out and read the notification. It was from her school's homepage website that gave her notifications and updates. 

_Marwood College Announcement: School canceled due to a ruptured heating furnace._

Claire groaned. _I could have slept_ in she thought. Flopping back onto her bed in frustration, she sighed as she rested on her stomach then started thinking to herself. It was too cold to sit outside and read, and she didn't feel like going on patrol more than she had to. She glanced at her school backpack. _But you really should_. Her phone vibrated in her hand drawing her attention. Tony was calling her again. Clicking the answer button she brought it close to her ear.

"Yeah?"

"Claire," He said casually. "Get packed. You leave in an hour." Her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Huh?"

"I said, you're leaving in an hour. Chop chop!" Claire's nose wrinkled, still confused. What was he talking about?

"Care to explain where I'm going?" 

"New York, of course." Her body froze and her heart beat heavily in her chest. Did she hear him correctly? She sat up hurriedly.

"Dad, if you're pulling my leg I'm going to kill you." He chuckled.

"I'm not kidding. I'm serious, you need to get ready. I'm in the jet right now, and I'll be there to get you at the airport soon. I didn't blow that furnace for nothing." She raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"So it was you who tampered with the heating. I must say, I've seen you do better." Even though she called him dad and such, he was still more of a best friend to her than anything. Which, I suppose that's what most dads could have been to people, but he was her idol. She appreciated him so much for everything he's done for her since taking her in.

"You'll see a lot more action in the Big Apple, that's for sure," He said reassuringly. "Now go on. Grab whatever you want to bring. You know I'll just buy you new stuff anyway."

"You know I don't like when you favor me things," She grumbled as she tugged shirts off of hangers and threw them onto her bed. 

"I know, that's why I do it anyway." Claire shook her head.

"You're annoying." 

"Annoyingly adorable," He insisted. She rolled my eyes and quickly said her goodbyes before racing around her apartment, trying desperately to fit all of her favorites clothes into her suitcase. 

The private jet was first class and neatly furnished, the chairs comfy and air surprisingly warm. She tapped her fingers on the side of her glass as she stared out the window, waiting for Tony to get back from fixing his drink. He always liked a good cocktail for a long flight. He returned moments later with a martini glass in hand, a small wooden umbrella pocking out from the top of it. She raised her eyebrow at him with a smile, making him stop abruptly as he looked back at her. He shrugged and his eyes went wide.

"What?" Claire silently laughed as she waved him off and he sat down across from her. His eyes were on his drink as he said: "A guy needs a break once in a while. I'm getting old."

"Damn right you are," She muttered. His head shot up goofily.

"I heard that."

"I'm glad." He eyed her as he sipped through his straw, causing a small laugh to bubble out of her. But seconds later everything was back to normal and she said what she'd been dying to ask since he called her this morning.

"What changed your mind about me finally coming home?" He sipped his drink one last time, smacking his lips before answering.

"You're nineteen, almost twenty. I figured it was time you stopped handling baby crimes and got to the real things that matter." He looked at her thoughtfully, crossing his legs. "The group could always use new recruits. You might just need some extra training. Natasha would be more than happy to help with that, I'm sure." Butterflies swarmed Claire's stomach as she considered what he was saying. He was talking about the Avengers, of course. There was no better team than them. They not only worked together but lived together as a family in Stark Tower. Tony talked all the time to her about how his missions were going and how everybody missed her. She hadn't seen any of them since she was a junior in high school, seventeen years old, and she dearly missed seeing all of them. She'd especially missed Natasha, though. Being Black Widow and one of the strongest female fighters she knew, Claire had also grown to see her as an iconic idol as well as Tony. "Nat misses you. She's actually the one that pushed me over the edge of bringing you back." She scoffed at him.

"So that's why. That makes me feel so loved, honestly, it does," She said sarcastically. He shrugged goofily as he sipped once more before setting it down in a cup holder. 

"I was considering it, calm down. I'm just saying she's the one that made me finalize the decision." Claire eyed him as he held his breath, then sighed. "And also put a gun to my head and forced me to." She laughed at that. Everyone knew Natasha would never hurt any of her friends unless they were a traitor, but she was still scary as hell. 

"Have I mentioned I love her?"

"The crazy bitch pointed a gun at my head!" He exclaimed. She smirked at him knowingly.

"I bet if it would've been Pepper you'd have thought it was hot." Pink tinted his cheeks as he looked out the window as to avoid answering. He didn't have to, she knew what the answer would have been. 

"We've still got about two hours until we get to N.Y. so get some rest, kiddo." 

"What if I'm not tired?" She countered, even though they both knew that was a lie. Claire drank from her glass of water gratefully. 

"Mhm, whatever you say," Tony said as he rested his head in his hand propped up on the armrest. She leaned against the window and watched the puffy clouds pass below them.

"Can I ask you something first? Then I'll take a nap." He glanced at her before reaching for his cocktail.

"Sure." 

"What if I don't cut it?" This made Tony's body freeze for a fraction of a second. She looked at him. "What if I'll never be as good as you guys, and never become an Avenger? Will Natasha be disappointed in me?" He sighed and rubbed his face before looking at her again.

"Only time will tell, sweetheart. I don't think you'll have a problem, but don't get cocky about it." She smiled lightly and looked back out the window. 

"I won't." He rose from the seat and squeezed her shoulder, saying "Now rest up," and then disappeared around the back of her seat somewhere. She was asleep in mere seconds.


	3. Meeting

The suit was comfortingly fitting against Claire's body as she crouched in the elevator. She had her mask covering her face with her white hood over her head. When the doors opened she noticed there was a pillar that stood to hold the ceiling up about ten feet away, so she leaped her way to the side of it and clung to the top of one of the faces of it, careful not to let anyone see her. After she made sure everyone was still talking amongst themselves by the lounge on the main floor, she crawled across the ceiling, stopping when she was just above Clint, and shot a string of web at the ceiling near her feet, allowing her to hang down abruptly in front of him. Clint was startled by the sudden surprise, but then cocked an eyebrow and smirked when she pulled her mask away and smiled at him, her hair cascading down towards the floor as she hung upside down.

"Long time no see," She teased before hopping down to the ground in a crouch. Clint hugged her dearly as she stood up and they wrapped their arms around each other. 

"It's good to see you, Claire." Pulling away he eyed her uniform. She shifted her weight to one leg and confidently placed her hands on her hips. 

"New uni. What do you think?" He smiled gently at her as he said: "I think it suits you." She smiled widely at him as everyone else began to greet her, including people like Bruce Banner (Hulk), Sam Wilson (Falcon), Vision, Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch), and Steve who'd already introduced himself to her earlier. Her smile was wide as she met everyone, some of them being people she'd never met before. Being the adopted daughter of Iron Man, she'd heard many things from Tony about new recruits and returning Avengers. Now that she thought about it, Tony told her just about everything. She basically _was_ an Avenger. Her stomach clenched at the thought. _Almost_. Clint tapped her elbow to get her attention, her eyes lighting up as she smiled at him.

"How have you been, Claire?" 

"I won't lie, the past two-and-a-half years have been pretty lonely. Having a secret as big as being Spider-Girl isn't easy, so I ended up secluding myself from everybody and used focusing on my classes as an excuse to skip parties, even though I was really just patrolling the city."

"What field were you studying in Milwaukee?" 

"Engineering and Technology," She said confidently. Clint snickered to himself.

"God, even when you have the chance to get away from Tony, a part of him still lives in you." She smirked playfully when she realized he was referring to her choice of college major. It was the same thing Tony went to college for and that's what helped his career skyrocket. 

"Is that a bad thing?" He shook his head.

"It is what you make of it. I just know that when I get the chance to be away from Tony, I take it." They laughed together then merged into other conversations, talking about combat and upcoming events as well as who was taking which shifts of patrol for the next few days. Claire hadn't noticed what time it was until Steve brought up having a meeting at four o'clock, and by then it was three forty-five. Claire also realized she hadn't bothered to take off her uniform since putting it on, but she didn't mind. If anything she was testing out the durability of the fabric so that she knew it was comfortable. When it was three fifty-five everyone began taking seats around the lounge, waiting for the meeting to begin. Claire and Natasha were chatting when a sudden holler came from the elevator. 

"I'm here! I made it!" A boy hollered as he charged toward the lounge, papers flying out of his open backpack. He skidded to a stop when he nearly ran into Claire, looking at her with wide, apologetic eyes. She blinked at him. He was very attractive. Her head buzzed uncomfortably for a second, her neck twitching. Was she just having one of those random muscle spasms? 

"Glad you could make it, Peter," Clint mumbled under his breath. Peter was panting heavily as he gazed at her, both of them shifting uncomfortably from the buzzing until it suddenly stopped. Claire could feel her heart speeding up as they held eye contact, her insides tingling and her cheeks heating up. After a few awkward seconds of silence, Tony clapped a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"Peter, this is my daughter, Claire Stacy." Peter blinked out of his hazed trance and extended his hand to her.

"I'm Peter-Man. I mean, Spider-Parker." He shook his head in confusion, muttering the word ' _shit_ ' under his breath before inhaling deeply and smiling at her widely with embarrassment. "It's nice to meet you," He finally said as she took his hand, her fingers tingling when they dragged along his wrist. "I like your uniform." She smiled graciously at him, trying to cover up her pink cheeks.

"Thanks." Tony pushed Peter away by thunking the side of his head with his fingers saying: "Aaaaaanywho, on with the meeting." While Steve and Natasha talked about the first few topics of the meeting, she helped Peter pick up his scattered sheets of paper. 

"Thank you," He'd whispered to her as she handed him many sheets of calculus homework. 

"You're welcome. What are you studying college for?" She asked curiously. Her face lit up when he told her he was studying Engineering and Technology as well, the same as her. "No way, me too." Butterflies swarmed her stomach as he grinned at her in response before they went to listen to Natasha speaking. 

"Patrolling order is as follows: Wanda and Vision from five to seven, Tony and Steve from seven to nine, Claire and Peter from nine to eleven, and Clint and I will do our normal night shift as usual." She then crossed her arms and nodded at Steve before winking at Claire. 

"Remember that training every day is crucial to staying healthy, strong, and staying in the gist of things. If you skip a day, you know who you'll get your ass kicked by." Natasha smirked as she eyed everyone around the room. "Make sure you're also recording your progress so that you can continue to improve over time. The weight room is open at all times for anyone willing to go inside, so you can choose your hours independently. You may be wondering why we have new earpieces and watches. Now that we have Claire with us-" Claire pursed her lips when everyone glanced at her. "-we have an extra person to handle, also meaning we have to cover more surface area."

"Meaning that the new 'pieces are able to stay in touch from a greater distance than before," Interrupted Tony. Steve nodded with a slightly annoyed look on his face before looking at Tony for any additional comments. When Tony shrugged, Steve looked back at everyone. "Team dismissed." Wanda and Vision went about their own business almost immediately after dismissal while Tasha came up to Claire with a smirk.

"You wanna train before patrol tonight?" 

"Oh hell yeah!" Claire exclaimed, readying herself in a sprinting position, then smirked back. "Bet I can beat you." 

"I bet you can't," Countered Tasha as she gained a headstart.

"Hey! Not fair!" Claire complained as she shot a web at the ceiling to get to the elevator before Tasha. Peter watched them with wide eyes, a small smile marking his lips as they playfully shoved each other into the elevator, both of them giggling and screaming like teenagers. He'd never seen Widow like that before, let alone laugh. He'd only seen her smile once before, and it was hard to catch even then. Tony was complaining about something one morning, coffee in hand as he sat in the lounge. Clint was walking from the kitchen was a newspaper in hand. Clearly done with Tony's loud mouth, he smacked him on the back of the head, telling him to be quiet or he'd force him to be. Only then did Peter catch the smallest smile on Widow's lips. Maybe she and the new girl had a strong connection. 

"Pete." His head jerked to Tony who was walking up to him with his hands in his pockets. Peter noticed the folded lines on his forehead, a sign that he was either thinking deeply or something was on his mind. If he was going to try to talk to Peter, this couldn't go well. Peter swallowed. What if he'd seen the way he froze when he saw Claire? His stomach knotted just thinking about it. She was beautiful. 

"Mr. Stark?" 

"Ready for your calculus lesson?" Peter blinked at him blankly before remembering it was Friday. Tony usually helped Peter with understanding his homework so that he could learn to do it correctly over the course of the weekend. Mr. Stark also liked simplifying things to an easier way of working, which of course Peter had no problem doing, too. He was particularly grateful for it because Tony was able to form the equations into something he better understood.

"Oh. Yeah, I-I am." He slung his backpack over his shoulder and plunged his hands into his jacket pockets. He walked with Tony to the elevator. 

"Great. What was your lesson about today?"

"The arbitrary constant of integration." Tony groaned at the mention of the topic, throwing his head back dramatically.

"Uuuggghhhhh, I hate math." Peter gazed up at him.

"But you're good at it." 

"Yeah, I am," He said cockily. He looked around with a shady expression before covering his mouth so only Peter could see what he was saying. "But that doesn't mean I like it." He'd whispered the sentence quite loudly, defeating the entire purpose of shielding his mouth, Peter thought. But that's something he liked about Tony. He could be serious one moment and goofy the next. Peter rubbed the dull aching in his forehead. He'd gotten a migraine flash when he entered the lounge, but he figured it was just from being out of breath and running so hard to be on time.

"Do we have anything going on this weekend, Mr. Stark?" Tony pushed the elevator button heading up to his lab. 

"Not that I'm aware of unless we have a surprise visit from chaos." Peter nodded his head knowingly as he shifted his backpack on his shoulder, thinking about who could surprisingly visit them. He knew Mr. Stark had meant trouble in New York, but that's not what he was thinking about. He was thinking about people like Thor or Star-Lord, even Dr. Strange. He laughed once to himself, remembering times he'd last seen him. They were up in space trying to protect the Time Stone. On that ship was where Tony had officially, and simply, declared Peter a true Avenger. He recalled the flood of emotions that had gone through him at that moment. Peter scoffed at himself as he and Mr. Stark walked out of the elevator. He had only been a teenager then: fifteen years old. To think how far he's come and how long it's been-

"Alright Pete, let's get this over with."


	4. Patrol

"Remember the gadgets I told you about, and don't forget what I said about cuts. The suit isn't bulletproof. Also, keep in mind that it's dark. If you start getting cold come straight back home. A lot of criminals like to try spraying graffiti on the sides of buildings so make sure to watch for that. And so help me God if-"

"Okay! I've got it!" Claire shouted embarrassingly as she clamped a hand over Tony's mouth. Peter and the two of them were on the top of Stark Tower. It was time for them to take their shift for patrol duty. Tony struggled to remove her hand as Peter stood at the edge of the building watching them with his arms crossed and his mask covering only the top half of his head. 

"Hey! You never worried over me like that!" He complained over the strong gusts of wind. Tony wasn't too far off when he said it would be chilly. Tony pointed an accusing finger Peter's way, his other hand attempting to keep Claire's arms away from his face.

"You stay out of this, Parker." 

"We should really be going now, dad. It's already five past nine." He sighed, taking a long look at her before nodding to the rest of the city. 

"Go," He muttered. Claire ran towards the edge, pulling her mask on and tucking her ponytail into the top of it. 

"I love you!" She yelled before leaping off the building. The cold air stabbed at her body as she went into a free fall, pulling her arms and legs close together so she sliced through the wind gusts, spotting Peter out of the corner of her eye. They inched closer and closer to the other buildings, waiting until they were only fifty feet above them to release their webs and swing above the lit city. The busy streets and loud music were new to Claire. Milwaukee was never this active at night. She listened to the honking of cars and angry hollers in the jammed-up intersections. It seemed like there was never a dull part of the city no matter which way she looked. She hoisted herself up onto the top of a building from a lamppost, Peter landing with a thump behind her. Suddenly her head vibrated with an unusual buzz sending shivers down her back. 

" _What the fuck was that?_ " Claire's eyes shot to Peter.

"You feel that too?" She asked him with concern. He looked at her, the eyes on his mask moving and adjusting to the natural movements of his own eyes underneath. 

"Huh?" Her head cocked to the side in confusion.

"Didn't you say something just now?" His eyebrow raised.

"No." 

"Yes you did," She countered, now facing him fully. "You said 'what the fuck was that'." He was the one that cocked his head now. Claire was confused. He was the one that said it, so how could he be so dumbfounded?

"I didn't say it exactly. I thought it to myself." If she hadn't been wearing a mask Claire was sure her jaw would have fallen to the floor. Well... the ceiling. 

"Do it again." 

"Why-" 

"Just do it, please." He crossed his arms as he looked at her.

" _La la la la laaaaaa. I'm thinkiiiiing, can you hear meeeee-_ "

"Yes Peter, I can hear you," She said with a giggle. "Why though?" He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about a possible answer.

"Spiders do have a heightened sense of surrounding. Do you get chills every once in a while, too?" She nodded her head. "And it's only been when we're around each other, right?" Claire nodded again. "Maybe we can ask Mr. Stark about it when we get back to the Tower. He'll probably know the answer; he usually does." Claire narrowed her eyes at him. _Or I'll just do my own research because I don't need a guy to do everything for me, especially my dad._ Peter's head whipped towards her, eyes wide. She looked at him.

"What?"

"I heard that." Claire froze. She didn't even think to consider if he could hear her thoughts, too. She was thankful for her mask as she was positive her face was growing beet red with embarrassment. She began fiddling with her fingers, a habit she'd caught onto when she got nervous. 

"I- you- it's not- uh! I'm sorry, I didn't think-"

"Claire, it's okay." Peter paused after he said her name. He thought her name was elegant and poised. 

"Just, I'm sorry. I should've known that-"

"Claire-"

"Let me talk, Pete." Her finger was raised to hush him, which he did. His shoulder slumped slightly as he exhaled. "My comment, or thought, wasn't directed at you in any way. I understand where you were coming from and what you were suggesting, but I don't like the feeling of always needing someone to do things for me, especially since that's how Tony has treated me my whole life." Peter listened thoughtfully to what she was saying. He admired that she was assertive and straight to the point. Maybe she learned that trait from Widow. "Tony almost never lets me buy my own things. When he sent me to Wisconsin he insisted on paying for my college tuition and apartment. I hated it." Claire noticed this was quickly turning into a vent session. Realizing where this was going, she sighed and straightened her posture, a move she'd visually learned from Tasha when she wanted to keep up her bad-ass act. "Long story short, I'm sorry." Claire looked away from him and to the streets below. "We should start patrolling now." 

"Right," Peter agreed, feeling confused and intrigued. Maybe Claire and Tasha weren't as different as Peter thought they might be. In fact, the way Claire was acting reminded him strictly of Widow. He followed her as they continued swinging through the city looking for trouble.

About an hour later they still hadn't found anything. Peter was swinging on a spiderweb hammock he'd attached to two sides of a building and Claire was pacing back and forth with her arms crossed, clearly uncomfortable with the temperature. 

"Remember what Mr. Stark said about going back if you're cold," He suggested as he swung lazily back and forth. She responded through clenched teeth, both from shivering and annoyance that there had been no traces of activity so far.

"I know." She thought about ways to warm herself up. The first thing that came to her mind was another's body heat. She bit at her bottom lip trying to decide whether or not she should bother to bring it up. Hell, just the thought of Peter being that close to her was warming her up already.

"If you're cold we should probably-"

"I'm fine, Spidey." He raised his eyebrows at the new name she'd called him. He sighed at her stubbornness. 

"Fine, then just turn on the heater in your suit." The spider eyes on Claire's mask narrowed at him with interest. 

"My what?" He hopped off the hammock and approached her, holding out his hand.

"Show me your cuff." She did as she was told and showed him her wrist. He took it, biting at the inside of his cheek as he looked over all of the buttons and lights on it before clicking one. It triggered steam to exert through the microscopic holes in her suit, causing a delightful sigh from Claire as her body slackened a little. 

"Thanks. Tony should really tell me about what all of these buttons do." He smiled at her underneath his mask. Suddenly he felt the hair on his arms stand, his senses suddenly coming to full awareness. It was a sign something was going on. As if reading his expression Claire turned around a second later to see two men shadily walking towards a strip club. They both crouched near the edge of the building, taking note of how they were constantly looking around. _Finally_ , Claire thought. 

" _I know right. Tonight has been pretty slow. There's usually more going on than this_." She nodded at his telepathic response. 

" _Could they make it any more obvious that they're up to no good_?" Claire snickered once before crawling to the other edge of the building so she was moving along with the men.

" _My thought's exactly._ " 

" _I know._ " She looked at him with a goofy eyebrow raised, the gesture surely meant to make light of the situation. Peter shrugged as he continued watching the men. When they entered the club, Peter looked at her. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. I'll cover the back door, you cover the front door-"

"What? But if something happens they're obviously going to come out the back way. That means no action for me." His eyes gave off a stern expression.

"You just got here, I've been doing this for years. I'm taking the back door." She narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't like being told what to do. She was an independent woman that knew how to take care of herself. And she especially didn't like that he was pulling the experience card. 

"Fine." She gestured toward the back of the building. "Go ahead, boss." He looked at her a second longer before jogging towards the direction of the back entrance. But before he'd gotten more than ten feet away, she shot a sticky web at his foot, causing him to stop abruptly. His eyes traced the web in surprise, then changed to annoyance when they landed on Claire. 

"Are you kidding me right now?" 

"Nope," She said matter of factly as she ran ahead of Peter, dodging the strings he attempted to shoot at her. 

"Claire!" She ignored him as she hopped off of the top of the building, landing on a flight of fire escape stairs. That webbing wouldn't dissolve for at least a good hour. The doors slammed open after what seemed like thirty minutes. Sure enough, the two men were dragging four girls out of the club, all of them whimpering from the physicality of being pushed and shoved around. 

"Move it or I'll shoot," One of them snarled. Afraid of being attacked any more than they already were, they did as told and began walking down the alleyway. Claire jumped down in front of them abruptly, shooting strings at each of the men but missing one. The man that was shot yelped as he stuck to the wall. The other held a gun up at her and fired, the bullet cutting through the top layer of skin on her left bicep. Shit. _Of course, I had to miss the one with the gun. Good job, Claire_. She re-aimed with her right wrist and got him this time, sternly telling the girls to get back inside the club. They scurried gratefully. The hair on her arms rose when something landed next to her. 

"How'd you get out so quickly?" She asked curiously as Peter walked up to the men. He kept forward as he answered.

"I know how the webbing works and the ways to dissolve it. I'm the one that helped design it." She mocked him but sticking out her tongue, although he wouldn't be able to see. He clicked some buttons on his wrist before turning back to her. "Let's go." Claire's eyebrows furrowed.

"That's it? What about the bad guys?"

"The police are on their way." He said while shooting a web at the top of a building and disappearing.


	5. I'm Not Dumb, Peter

_November 28th, 2016_

Beads of sweat trickled down the side of Peter's face as he finished his last round of bench and squats. He released an exasperated breath as he sat up and hunched over with his elbows on his knees. It was just over two in the morning but he hadn't been able to fall asleep. The nightmares he sometimes encountered were back again and he was more afraid to sleep than stay awake all night. Working out was a way for him to blow off some steam and keep his mind off things. He rose from the bench press and made his way to the punching bag. Before throwing actual hits and kicks, he worked on footwork and body placement. His eyes closed as he focused for a second then began with punching the bag. The chains holding the bag upright from the ceiling jangled. As he continued on he could feel his knuckles starting to ache, but it didn't phase him. There were many times when he felt the sensation but nothing actually happened. Taking a break from the bag he moved to do sit-ups. The adrenaline rush caused a high energy surge through him, pushing his muscles to move faster and faster until he grunted on the last rep. Feeling tired, he sat still to catch his breath. His arms tingled as he instinctively reached up to catch something. Looking up, he saw Clint in the doorway to the gym. He'd thrown a pencil eraser at him.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Clint asked as Peter swallowed, still trying to slow his heartbeat. 

"Couldn't sleep." Clint nodded and crossed his arms. 

"Why not?" Peter eyed him before heading back to the individual weights. 

"Oh, you know. Just, uh, homework and stuff." Clint gazed at him with the 'oh really' look shading his face. Peter knew his answer wasn't convincing. He wasn't particularly the best liar. 

"Homework, huh?" He nodded and pursed his lips as he lifted a seventy-five-pound weight and began doing curl-ups. "You're a bad liar, Pete, you know that?" Peter rolled his eyes at Clint.

"Yes, so I've been told."

"If you know you're a bad liar then why did you try?" Peter completed twenty reps then tossed the weight into the other hand. 

"Because it's better to try than to not try at all." Clint shook his head and rearranged his hands to one on his hip and the other perched above his head on the door frame. 

"I know about the nightmares, Peter." Peter dropped the weight on his foot. 

"Owe! Son of a- mmmmmmm," He groaned as he tried containing the elicit words threatening to escape. Peter's voice squeaked with pain. "How do you know about those?"

"It's in your profile." 

"Why?"

"Because these nightmares started after a mission, which means you're suffering from mild PTSD. We keep track of that kind of stuff because it can give us answers in case something happens." Peter breathed deeply, hands on his hips as he balanced on his uninjured foot. 

"Well when you turn to dust and then come back from the dead to defeat Thanos it's kind of mind-shattering" He muttered to himself, but Clint heard him. Peter practically snapped out his next words. "I can confidently tell you I'm just fine. The nightmares don't affect my work or daily activities." He limped over to grab his water bottle and towel then strung his towel around his neck. 

"That's a hidden lie, actually. These nightmares affect your sleep, which can affect your mental health, therefore affecting your everyday routine. It can be as simple as lashing out at someone when you wouldn't normally let your temper get the best of you." He paused. "Or stuttering big time when talking to a pretty girl." Peter went into a coughing fit from choking on his water. 

"Excuse me-"

"Yeah, don't think I didn't pick up on that right away, Pete." Clint rubbed his chin. "You act differently around Claire in general. You could be talking to Tony one minute and then choking up when Claire joins the conversation." He continued talking with a knowing smirk on his face as Peter eyed him with embarrassment. "You look at her like she's the only girl in the world. And remember that one night when you were up late trying to get your homework done and Claire offered to help you? You both fell asleep leaning against each other-"

"We were both tired!" Peter half yelled. He swallowed and bit his blush-colored cheek before replying calmer. "It was late and we were tired..." 

"You both ask to patrol together all the time."

"That's because we make a good team."

"You guys have been training together, too."

"It helps us learn each other's strengths and weaknesses."

"She personally invited you to her birthday party next week."

"We were _all_ invited, Clint." That wasn't the case though. Of course Tony had implied everyone was invited, considering it was him who was hosting the party, but Claire asked Peter before anyone else knew about it. And she asked him alone. Clint knew that Peter was going to keep thinking of things that would make it seem like his and Claire's friendship was genuine. But Clint wasn't stupid; he knew what was going on between the two of them. 

"Kid." He looked up at the legendary archer, an insulted look on his face. 

"I'm not a-?" 

"Yes you are, be quiet." He clamped his mouth with an annoyed expression. "I know what's going on. I'm not dumb, Peter." Peter looked around nervously.

"There's nothing going on-"

"Peter," Clint said sternly. Peter gazed at him attentively. "It's obvious that you both have a liking towards each other." Peter shook his head defiantly. "Oh come on. I see you both laughing and smiling at each other all the time. You almost kissed once in the kitchen." Peter's heart nearly left his chest it was beating so hard. He grabbed at his hair just so he could do something with his hands.

"Y-you know about that?"

"Yeah, I do. She was waiting for you to make a move. Why'd you pull away-"

"Because I panicked!" He exclaimed. "I-I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I've never been good around girls, ever. And then Claire comes along..." He let his arms fall in defeat. "Last month we had our first argument and we stormed away from each other. But then after an hour we both came back and apologized, and it made me fall even harder." He shook his head before pouring a stream of water over his head and rubbing his face and hair. He kept his eyes on the floor as he said: "I need to get to bed now." Clint nodded in agreement, moving out of the doorway so that Peter could pass through. But they both knew Peter wouldn't actually go to sleep.

"Well just remember I'm here if you've gotta talk about anything." Peter ruffled his hair with his towel as he walked towards the elevator.

"Will do."

"And Peter?" Clint waited until Peter faced him to continue talking. He smiled. "You need to tell Claire how you feel." 

"Clint-"

"It's been almost a month. You need to make a move. Otherwise, time is going to kill you when it keeps moving forward." He shrugged. "What have you got to lose?" Peter nodded his head sleepily as he continued towards the elevator and pushed the button then disappeared inside. Clint sighed and walked towards the kitchen. Little did anyone know that he was having trouble sleeping too. It's been months since he's been able to see his wife, Laura, and his kids. He missed them dearly as they were the biggest blessings of his life and existence. Clint strode down the hallway and rounded the kitchen doorway, startled to find Natasha in the kitchen as well.

"Want a beer?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. The fridge was open and Nat was already holding one in her hand, a few sips of it gone. She must have just come down not too long ago. Clint jerked his head toward the fridge. 

"Hit me." Natasha shook her head with a smile as she reached into the fridge then tossed the cold beverage to Clint at the dining table. "What're you doing up so late?" She sat herself down in a chair to the left of him.

"Ever since the Spiders caught those two men trying to kidnap four girls there's been more and more criminal cases like them. All of them are related to one person, one monarch, but I can't figure out who it is. It's driving me insane." Clint capped off the lid of the bottle and took a swig.

"You'll figure it out. You always do." She nodded towards him once.

"Thinking about the family again?" Clint bobbed his head up and down.

"I need to take a vacation soon. I miss them." 

"Well you know we'll be able to cover you until you get back." They continued talking about criminal cases and the activity that was picked up during patrol hours until both of them cracked open another beer each.

"I confirmed my theory about the Spiders about an hour ago, by the way." Nat raised her eyebrows ever so slightly, her forehead wrinkling from the action. Both of them being trained spies, they were taught to read people's facial expressions and body language. As soon as Claire and Peter met, they could tell there was something more than could be seen by the naked eye. During the night of Claire's first patrolling session, Clint and Nat happened to pass by each other in a hallway, and that's when she brought up her suspicions to Clint. He'd expressed his concerns too, and they agreed to keep an eye on the two as time went on. But the longer they knew each other, the more they seemed to grow inseparable. Nat noticed they found excuses to hang out all the time, like studying, training, and asking to work together during patrol shifts. And Clint caught on to the gestures they made to each other, oftentimes being flirtatious and giddy. 

"Oh really?" 

"Yep. Peter is definitely falling for Claire. And I'm ninety percent sure Claire is falling for him too." Nat shook her head and sipped her beverage again.

"Young love." But she said it almost like she disapproved or relinquished it. Nat's eyes zoned in on Clint as she asked, "How do you think Tony will react to that?" Clint sighed and rubbed his eyes again.

"Who knows. These days it's hard to tell. Tony can be happy-happy-joy-joy one day and I'm gonna kill you the next. Maybe it's just a matter of choosing the right time. That's to say if the two can sort things out like adults." The corner of Nat's mouth twitched.

"Peter is twenty and Claire is going to be next week. Do you really think they have enough maturity in them yet to make ends meet?" Clint thought about what she was saying. Nat did have a valid point. They were both young yet, very inexperienced with adulthood. But then Clint considered something else. If they really did like each other the way they made it seem, they shouldn't have a problem expressing it. Clint finished off the last few drops of his bottle, then got up and tossed it into the recycling bin. He turned half his face to Nat, both of their tired eyes meeting. 

"Only time will tell.”


	6. Miss Twenty-Year-Old

_December 8th, 2016_

"Good morning, honey! Wake up wake up wake up wake uuupppppp." Claire opened her eyes groggily to the sound of a loud voice and the bed constantly being fumbled around. She sat up and turned to her right to see Tony jumping up and down on her bed holding one of her pillows. And to her dismay, everyone else was in her room too. Steve, Tasha, Clint, and... Her stomach clenched as panic began surging through her. Peter was in her room. _Oh my god, he's in my room._ The color drained from her face when she remembered she was in her usual sleepwear: shorts and a crop top. She held the covers close to her abdomen for security. 

"Pillow fiiiigggghhhhht!" She was hit with a pillow that caused an 'oof' to escape her lips. She quickly grabbed her own pillow and used it to shield herself from Tony, looking desperately to the rest of the Avengers in the room.

"If anyone wants to intervene, feel free." They all just laughed and continued watching as she was attacked from all sides. "Jesus, Tony. Get off me!" She nudged him off of her bed.

"Hey, language young lady." She crossed her arms and smirked at him.

"It's my birthday, I can do whatever I want." He looked around at everyone, acting startled.

"It's your birthday? I just came in and bothered you because I felt like it." More laughter rose as Claire punched the side of his arm playfully with a smile on her face. She turned to look at everyone else. 

"Happy birthday, baby girl," Tasha said with a small smile. "You'll never be anything but that to me, so don't even try to argue." Claire rolled her eyes and lifted herself off the bed, crossing her arms from the cool rush of cold air. 

"It was expected." Her cheeks burned as she felt Peter looking at her. Her head was humming again, an action she discovered would happen if she and Peter grew near each other. It was a spider instinct that allowed their awareness to conjoin, and it was a great feature during a battle. Vision piped up suddenly, a confused look on his face.

"What is a 'birth day'?" Wanda shook her head with a smile.

"I'll explain it to you later, Vision." Tony clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention.

"Right. We need to start party preparations because I'm not going to let my little girl turn twenty without the biggest celebration she's ever seen."

The decorating and setting up took almost the whole day to complete. Gold streamers and balloons lined every inch of the fifty-second floor, Tony's personal party room. Tables full of snacks and many other food options seemed to go on forever. There was one everywhere you looked. Speakers lined the walls and colorful lights danced across the large mass of people moving about the room. Every single one of them was an Avenger. People like Ant-Man, Black Panther, Dr. Strange, and even Thor came to celebrate her in her youth. Claire fiddled with the end of her party skirt. She was nervous. _Very_ nervous. And intimidated. Everyone here was an elite member of the Avengers... except for her. Although this party was meant to celebrate her, she felt like an outcast. The need to be a part of their team ate at her every day. She wanted so badly to be like them. A sudden presence pulled her away from her thoughts as she smiled at the one and only Black Panther. 

"Good evening, your highness. It's a pleasure to meet you." 

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Stacy." His accent intrigued her. She had always been interested in other cultures and religions. The idea of everyone being different spiritually and economically seemed to have an endless array of options. "I understand you've just returned to New York not too long ago." Claire nodded while sipping the punch in her cup.

"That's correct. It's good to be home. I'd forgotten how nice it was to have my family by my side, but the experience in Wisconsin definitely benefitted me." She continued greeting and chatting with people that wished her a happy birthday. She talked to Bruce about the research he was conducting to help modernize everyone's technology even further than it already is, then moved to share some brief laughs with Tasha before they were interrupted by a very noticeably tipsy Tony Stark. 

"Hello? Hello- is this thing on?" He mumbled into the microphone he was holding. He was standing on a stool with a spotlight shining on him, tapping the microphone. "Check check, okay there we go. Hello everybody. First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for taking the time out of your surely busy schedules to celebrate a very important event with me tonight." Everyone clapped and Tony outstretched his arms to take a bow before clearing his throat and bringing the microphone back to his mouth. "Tonight we celebrate the birthday of a very special young woman. Someone that I've watched thrive and grow throughout her entire life. Someone that's almost never taken no for answer, believe me." Some low laughter rolled around the crowd before Tony continued. "And the second person in my life that has proven to me that, yes, I do somehow have a heart." He swallowed. "So without further ado, I would like to make a toast to my beautiful daughter, Claire Stacy, and wish her the best of luck on the rest of her journey through life." He nodded once as he lifted his drink into the air, everyone in the crowd, including Claire, mimicking his action. "To Claire."

"To Claire!" Everyone chanted before cheering and continuing with their night. The solemn moment soon disappeared and everything went back to normal; music blaring, people dancing, lights shining. Claire glanced at her watch. _Almost midnight_. She sighed and made her way to the kitchen. She was sure there would be some water in the fridge for her. Her heels clicked against the marble floor, even though no one could hear them over the music, as she headed for the small kitchen in the corner of the room attached to the back of the bar. She smiled and waved at guests as she scurried to the closed door, quickly closing it behind her and sighing in relief at the dulled chatter.

"Trying to escape your own birthday party?" She turned her head to see Peter by the fridge, his hand holding the door open. "That's not normal I don't think." She smiled and sighed once more.

"I'm not someone that likes crowded or loud spaces. And I especially don't like that the party draws attention to me." He stepped away from the fridge, the door still ajar. She shot a web to grab a water bottle and caught it in her hand.

"It's your birthday. You're _twentieth_ birthday. You should be enjoying it, relishing in your new era of life," He teased with a smile as he impersonated Tony's voice. She giggled and opened her bottle.

"I was taught by Tasha that attention isn't a good thing. Especially for a superhero and spy. But thank you, Sir Tony Stark." He smiled at her again, that award-winning celebrity smile. She pursed her lips and looked away, unable to contain her giddy smile. 

"What?" He asked with a smile when she started laughing. She shrugged at him. She liked him so much she didn't know what to do sometimes. Peter closed the fridge, then looked at her sincerely. "Um... Claire." She gazed at him and waited. She could see emotion swarming through him. Her body tingled: she could detect it too. "I need to talk to you about something." Her heart clenched. Was he going to make a move...? Her stomach did flips at the thought.

"Oh, okay. What about?" He swallowed and blinked nervously. 

"Do you think we could go to the balcony?" She was in such a haze she didn't even remember giving him an answer. She just realized that they were nudging their way through the crowds of people to get to the balcony. Claire shivered when they finally made it. The air was cold as ice and it was slightly windy. Patches of snow lined the outer edge of the balcony where the railing connected to the pavement. Luckily Tony had installed tall heaters that projected warmth from them. But that didn't stop the cold from nipping at her skin. "Sorry, " He said to her as he wrapped his jacket around her shoulders. "I know it's cold, but I wanted to go somewhere where I knew we'd have little chance of being bothered." Peter took a deep breath and sighed, looking down at his fidgeting hands before letting his eyes sweep the view of the city for a second. When he looked back at Claire, his body numbed, and not from the cold. She was so beautiful. The most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his life. He bit his cheek as they gazed at each other, her blue eyes tearing into his soul. Claire could feel her insides turning as his deep, chocolate brown eyes stared down at her. He was only a few inches taller than her, reaching a height of about five feet eight inches. A gust of wind crashed against them and Claire stepped closer to Peter with a surprised gasp. His heartbeat accelerated at an incredible speed. He was sure it would burst at any moment if he wasn't careful. She hugged him around his waist, laying her head on his chest.

"Peter, aren't you freezing?" He wrapped his arms around her hesitantly. 

"Um... w-well, not exactly." In fact, the warmth exploding inside him from her being so close made him feel as if he had a fever. 

"Are you sure?" She raised her head to look at him, gasping when she realized how close they were now. Their noses barely brushed and they could feel the exasperated breaths of each other. Peter studied the small crystallizations in her wondrous blue eyes, memorizing the snowflake-like structures and gaping in frozen awe at her. He remembered the first time they'd come close to kissing in the kitchen. She was helping clean dishes and tripped making her way to the cabinets, but Peter had managed to catch her arm and pulled her up close. She'd watched him startled and panting from the sudden scare, thanking him quietly as they gazed at each other. They were in this same situation, close but distant. Then Peter recalled the night they'd fallen asleep in the lounge. She'd leaned on him sleepily, dozing off without trying. He remembered leaning his own head on hers and falling asleep along with her. Peter's lips tingled as they were drawing nearer and nearer to each other, and their lips just barely grazed each other as the wind continued to blaze past them.

"I-I need to talk to you," He panicked. "A-about that thing. Y-you know. The thing that Widow was talking about? W-with the trafficking?" A pained look flashed in Claire's eyes that made Peter's heart tear in two. What was he thinking? _Good job, Peter. You fucked it up. Again_. 

"Oh." She took a step back, pulling the jacket over her shoulders a little further. "What about it?" Her voice was dry and dull, seemingly lifeless as she looked up at Peter. He noticed the desire was gone, the emotion that had once flooded her eyes no longer present. Her hard, exterior shell was back in place, and he'd have to work all the way back up again. 

"Um... just, that, uh, we should ask to take the next patrol shift since we were the first group to encounter the start of the cases." She nodded, staring out at the city. 

"Okay." He looked down at his hands. Why did he have to be like this? Why couldn't he just let things happen the way they're supposed to. "I think I'll head back inside then," She said, handing back his jacket. He took it painfully, watching as she made her way back to the sliding doors. She was just about to reach for the handle.

"Claire." She turned back to look at him, a small flicker of hope shimmering in her eyes, her lips parted ever so slightly. The wind nipped at Peter's skin. "Happy birthday." She waited a second before putting on a smile, or more so a mask of false emotion, and opening the door, entering the loud, hectic world she was trying to escape in the first place.


	7. Mission 572

_December 20th, 2016_

Claire closed her eyes at the feeling of the hot shower water running over her body. It trickled along her arms and shoulders and down her legs, all to be contained back into the drain. Sighing deeply she lathered her shampoo and conditioner into her hair, the smell of lavender filling her senses. This is what she needed: just some time to relax and think about everything that's been going on. Since arriving at New York Tony enrolled her into a new college, which just so happened to be the same one he signed Peter up for at the beginning of the fall. Her eyebrows furrowed sadly. She and Peter had been avoiding each other without admitting it. After her birthday party and what happened between them on the balcony, her heart was left aching. She thought that he liked her the same way she was interested in him. But she realized that wasn't the case, now. He didn't ask for help with his homework at all, and they almost never patrolled together anymore. A camouflaged tear trickled down her cheek with the running water. Where did things go so astray? She'd thought everything was going so well... that she'd made a new friend that understood her. Peter was the closest Avenger to her in age and experience-

"All Avengers report to floor ninety-three immediately." Claire finally opened her eyes. Steve. She blinked a few times before rinsing out the rest of her hair and shutting the shower off, then quickly drying herself and dressing in a pair of leggings and a tank top. She didn't bother to brush through her hair as she rushed to the elevator and clicked the button furiously until it finally opened. When the doors finally opened she walked confidently inside, Tony, Steve, and Peter looking back at her. 

"For God's sake, it's almost eight o'clock at night. What's going on?" She demanded in a light tone. Claire slid her hair tie off her wrist and whipped her hair into a wet messy bun. 

"Are they active again?" Tasha asked from behind her as she strode into Tony's lab. Steve nodded curtly, his arms crossed and face tight. Everyone trickled in seconds apart from each other. Tony sighed and looked at Tasha with tired eyes. 

"Do you want to explain what's going on?" She answered by crossing her arms and facing everyone else.

"About two months ago, Peter and Claire encountered two men trying to traffick four young women inside a strip club about two miles from here." Claire felt Peter glance at her, but she forced her eyes to stay trained on Tasha. "Little did we know that was only the start. Gradually more and more cases like this have been scattered around the city, as you all know. In fact, every one of us has witnessed a kidnapping that had to do with this. I've asked Tony and Docter Banner to keep a sharp lookout for any activity that might relate to the subject, and it looks like they finally got something tonight." Steve nodded and stepped forward to take over.

"There's going to be a new 'shipment' of men coming in to try to kidnap women from the same club Peter and Claire stopped them at. Nat and I have discussed having someone on the inside-"

"I'll do it." Tony looked at Claire, his eyes practically bulging out of his head. 

"Um, no you will not, young lady." 

"Yes I will," She said matter-of-factly. She looked back at the pair who were talking, Tasha smiling smugly at Claire's defiance. "What do I have to do?" 

"Well," Steve said uncomfortably. "It's an exotic club, so..." 

"Looks like I'll be practicing my acting skills," She said plainly as she crossed her arms. "Who and what am I looking for?" 

"We'll discuss that a little later. As for the rest of you, you'll be working from a specified location where you can keep a lookout for us while we're inside." 

"Who else will be on the floor?" Asked Clint. 

"Nat and I will be there to protect Claire if anything happens." He grinned subtly at her. "Though I'm sure she'll be able to handle herself." 

"Woah Woah Woah, timeout," Protested Tony. "How come I don't have a say in this?" Claire rolled her eyes at his protectiveness. 

"Dad, I'll be just fine. It's not like I haven't done inside work before." He frowned at her.

"That doesn't make it okay for you to go." She furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"I'm doing my part as a-"

"A what?" She breathed in sharply, trying extremely hard to keep her cool.

"A teammate," She suggested carefully. She wasn't yet an Avenger. But Nick Fury had brought up that she should be sworn in very soon.

"That's what I thought. I'm having you sit this one out. You're not going tonight."

"And why not?"

"Because you're not an Avenger!" The room went silent. It seemed that everyone was holding their breath. No one wanted to make a sound. They all knew that Tony had crossed a line that had been pushed aside for a long time. Claire felt anger boiling inside her as she clenched her fists and bit her tongue. The daggered gaze she was shooting at Tony held hatred and vengeance. Finally, she spoke, her back straightening and her voice deadly. 

"What? Are you going to say I'm not Iron Man, either?" He swallowed as he stared at her challengingly. "I am going into that club and I am stopping this shipment because it's the right thing to do. Last time I fucking checked, you didn't have to be an Avenger to stop something that should be stopped." She paused to keep her voice from rising, her eyes still blazing at Tony as she spoke to Tasha. "Send the coordinates and information to me please, Tasha." She obliged by turning around and clicking the keys on a computer keyboard. Claire turned and headed for the elevator, pausing after she pushed the button and looking back at her father. "You were right when you said I don't take no for an answer. I thought you'd have learned by now that it pertained to everything, _dad_." Everyone watched as she entered the elevator and clicked another button before the doors closed in front of her. They stayed silent for a few moments, not sure who should talk first until Nat finally broke the silence with an angry tone.

"You fucked up big time, Tony. What the hell were you thinking?" 

"She's my daughter! Over my dead body was I going to let her go into that club-"

"You should be ashamed of yourself," She commented before striding after Claire, leaving the rest of them alone. Tony threw up his hands and turned back to his computer. 

"Well," Clint clucked his tongue. "Where am I going to be on this mission?" 

"You'll be on the roof with Peter," Steve confirmed. "Tony and Bruce will stay here and monitor the surveillance cameras."

"What?" Tony piped up. "There's gotta be more I can do to keep Claire safe." 

"I think you've done enough," Steve retorted before turning to everyone else. "Suit up for Mission five-seven-two." 

Peter and Clint watched as Nat, Steve, and Claire entered the busy club. Claire entered last, glancing up and meeting Peter's eyes for a small second before disappearing. His stomach fluttered. He hadn't felt butterflies like that in a while. Not since her birthday. He felt bad for steering clear of her, but he was embarrassed as hell after what happened. Clint rose from his crouch and began pacing the building but Peter stayed put, frozen in time in his own thoughts as he sat on the edge of the building. He missed Claire's laugh, her smile, her warm and bubbly personality. He was left alone once again, with close to no friends besides the Avengers family he saw every day. Even during college classes, she made sure to sit at least two rows away from him, never bothering to search for him anywhere. But he knew she could sense when he was near. They both could. Sometimes he heard her thoughts when she wasn't careful. One night when he was busy roaming around his room, unable to sleep again, he heard her working out a math problem. He didn't answer, just smiled and enjoyed the hidden company as he managed to find the courage to get some sleep. He'd fallen asleep to her 'speaking' to him, and the nightmares didn't visit him the rest of the night. 

"What are you thinking about, Pete?" Clint asked, his voice monotone and curious. Peter glanced at him, clutching his mask in his hands as his legs dangled over the side of the building.

"Oh. Just, you know, trying to remember what those two guys looked-"

"I thought we discussed that you aren't able to lie to me." Peter narrowed his eyes at Clint as he smirked and crossed his arms.

"Okay, fine. I'm thinking about Claire. Happy?" Clint continued looking around, making sure they were still clear of any unwanted company.

"I think the real question is, are _you_ happy?" Peter stayed silent. "Did you talk to her like I told you to?"

"Sort of." Peter cringed. Clint narrowed his eyes at him now. 

"Don't tell me you messed up again." Peter sighed and hung his head. "Are you shitting me?" Clint seemed quite annoyed. "When did this happen?" Peter's answer was barely audible.

"Her birthday."

"You fucked up on her birthday??"

"What the hell else was I supposed to do, Clint?!" He got up angrily and faced him. "I just panicked, that's all. It's not going to happen again-"

"You're damn right it won't happen again. Because if it does, not only will I beat the hell out of you, but she'll give up. What part of 'three strikes and you're out' do you not understand?" Peter huffed, his blood boiling. 

"I know I fucked up, Clint. I don't need a reminder, thanks." Peter's arms tingled suddenly, his eyebrows raising and posture straightening. Clint noticed his drastic change of composure and glanced down from the side of the building. Sure enough, a truck was being packed into the alleyway. He placed his finger over his earpiece and pressed a small button.

"Cap, we've got eyes on a truck by the back entrance." A few seconds later, Steve responded.

"Stand your ground and do not engage unless I say otherwise. Claire is investigating one of the suspects of the shipment."

"Copy that." Peter fidgetted with his hands, watching as the men exited the truck and entered the club. 

"Do you think she's okay?" Peter asked Clint nervously. 

"She was trained by me _and_ Nat. She's basically as lethal a warrior as we are." Peter nodded his head and continued watching for any movement or activity when the door slammed open and dozens of girls were filed out of the entrance. Clint quickly reported again.

"There are girls being taken, Cap. Ready to strike."

"Do not engage. We're almost done."

"But they're being forced into the truck, we need to-"

"I said do not engage, Hawkeye. That's an order." 

"Fuck," Clint muttered under his breath after releasing his hand from his ear. They watched helplessly as the girls were dragged into the back of the shipping truck. Peter shook his head and tugged on his mask.

"Clint, we have to do something."

"You heard the Cap. We stay." Loud banging and yelps sounded from the ally. The two men looked back down at the truck. They hadn't even noticed Nat come out. Figuring that was a good enough signal to engage, Clint hopped down onto the fire escape while Peter shot webs at the escaping attackers. Steve and Claire joined them a minute later, Claire jabbing and punching the few men that underestimated her. _Even in a tight dress and heels, she can kick ass,_ Peter thought.

" _I heard that Pete_ ," Claire said telepathically. He turned to look at her with a horrified expression as she smirked back at him before taking on another opponent. As Widow finished off the last trafficker, Steve alerted the police and they disappeared back to Stark Tower.


	8. Myself Hates Me

_December 31st, 2016_

Peter watched with a smile as Tony twirled Pepper around while he sang along with music playing. She giggled when he took her back in his arms and tapped her nose with his finger, still humming along to the lyrics. Clint and Widow were already draining the fridge of alcohol and Bruce was sitting awkwardly next to Vision and Wanda. Claire and Steve were somewhere talking.

"Peter," Widow called. She waved him over when he looked at her with raised eyebrows and made his way to stand next to them at the pool table. Clint was shooting for a striped ball. "Wanna take a shot?" She asked as she gestured towards the table. Peter shoved his hands in his khaki pockets.

"No, I'm good. I don't play." An elevator ding caught his attention as he noticed Claire finally arriving at the New Year's party. He let his eyes gaze at her beauty, which her lovely blue off-the-shoulder dress complimented quite well. It brightened the blue of her eyes and her curled hair framed her face perfectly. When he looked back up at her face, she was gazing right back at him. Claire bit her lip in an attempt to keep her smile contained, but failed miserably as she looked away and pursed her lips. She dared to look back once more, and he was still looking at her with a small smile. 

"Claire," Tony called to her. He was still dancing with Pepper. "Go grab yourself a drink will you?" 

"I can't-"

"Yes, you can. I give you permission." He nodded his head towards the pool table. "You too, Peter. It's New Year's Eve! Enjoy yourselves." They both looked at each other once more before making their way to the familiar party room kitchen. Peter opened the door for her and she uttered a small 'thank you' before entering inside. She opened the fridge to see what they had and Peter closed the door behind him.

"Do you want a beer or a mixed drink?" She asked him. He eyed her playfully.

"You know how to bartend?" She shrugged with a small smirk tugging at her lips.

"When Tony Stark is your father it's not too often he _doesn't_ have a drink in his hand." Peter watched as she pulled out a bottle of vodka and tequila, then gathered other ingredients like limes, salt, and olives. "What would you like, Peter?" He cocked his head at her and smiled. 

"Surprise me." She shook her head in amusement and began working immediately.

"I'm going to make dry martinis for Pepper and Tony if you could deliver them for me?"

"Sure." A few minutes later she placed the drinks on a tray for Peter to carry them on. He left the door ajar after he went to take them to the married couple. Claire giggled when she heard Tony yelling a comical thank you to her from across the room, and Tasha and Clint yelling to her asking for Margaritas instead. She complied to their wishes and made them each their own drink, which Peter politely took to them as well. When he entered back through the door she was holding up a copper colored cup to him, beckoning him to take it. 

"You look like someone that would like beer, but with a twist, so I made you a Moscow Mule." He kept his eyes on her as he graciously took a sip, feeling the burn of the alcohol down his throat. He instantly felt relaxed and loose as his muscles eased from his upheld tension. A small flicker teased her eyes as they watched each other. 

"Thank you." She looked away to suppress a smile, pretending to focus on making her own drink.

"You're welcome."

"What are you going to have?" Her eyes flicked towards the tequila.

"Well," She said as she grasped the bottle and reach for a shot cup. "First I'm going to have a shot of tequila." He watched as she poured the clear liquid into the small cup and tipped her head back, taking the shot straight down without any supplements. She sighed and set the glass down, leaning against the counter as she reached for a larger glass. "Now I'm going to make a margarita because I can." He chuckled at her optimism as she worked with her ingredients then lined the top of the glass with coarse salt. He waited until she took a sip before placing his drink on the counter next to her.

"Claire, I need to talk to you." She furrowed her eyebrows and held her cup tighter, turning towards the door without making eye contact. 

"Maybe later, Peter." He shot a string of web at her waist and pulled her back to him. 

"Peter-" 

"Please, Claire. I just want you to listen to me for two minutes and then I won't bother you anymore." He held her close as his hands wrapped around her waist. She swallowed, conflict swarming her eyes. His body tingled with awareness.

"What if I want you to bother me..." He gazed at her with a surprised expression. She looked almost scared that she'd said it. His face softened.

"Than I'll keep bothering you." She nodded and placed her hands on his chest. He wondered if she could feel how fast his heart was beating right now. "Claire..." He cooed. "You're the most remarkable young women I've met in my entire life." She licked then pursed her lips as she glanced elsewhere. "Look at me," He said softly. Her eyes found him again a second later. His breath hitched. He took a deep breath and prepared for what he was about to admit. "I think about you. A lot."

"Peter..."

"And I get nervous when you go on patrol without me. I wonder how you're doing before I go to sleep at night." He shook his head. "Do you understand how jealous I was when you walked into that strip club wearing the things you did?" Her cheeks reddened and she swallowed. "I care about you a lot. And I meant to tell you on your birthday..." He trailed off for a moment. "But I had to tell you before the New Year. Because I didn't want to make telling you my next New Year's promise. I wanted it to be now." He watched as her eyes shimmered with the emotion he remembered when they were on the balcony. She hesitantly placed a hand on his cheek, searching his face as if to make sure everything he was saying was true. 

"I thought you didn't feel the way I did towards you..." She said. He looked at her confused for a second.

"You feel the same way I do." She cleared her throat and then swallowed. He could feel the nervousness rolling off of her.

"Well I mean... yes. I like you very much." His heart sang with joy as the words left her lips. They both began leaning in, closer and closer. The moment that Peter was dreaming about, wishing would happen, was only moments away. His lips tingled when hers brushed his like they first did on her birthday. Only one more second and-

"Hey Claire, could I have another-" Clint paused in the doorway with a shocked expression on his face. The embracing pair stood frozen in horror as Clint watched them. He stared in awe at Peter, who was angrily nodded his head for him to leave. "Uh... sorry guys. I'll catch you later." His smile was kiddish as he added: "Please continue," Then closed the door. Claire cleared her throat once more before patting Peter's chest his her hands and looking up at him. 

"Do you want to go somewhere more private...?" He blinked at her, his cheeks burning as he nodded his head. Claire made everyone one more round of drinks before both of them made their way to the elevator.

"Hey, where you guys going?" Tony asked as he cranked his head to look at them from the couch. 

"Um," Peter stuttered.

"Peter isn't feeling the best so I'm taking him to his room," Claire said confidently, though her voice broke a little. Tasha raised an eyebrow at them. Before Tony could answer, Clint cut in.

"Sounds good. Feel better, Pete," He called with a wink. Peter muttered a 'thanks' before hurrying into the elevator. When the doors opened they walked inside the room timidly, both of them blushing. It took only a few seconds for Peter to realize she'd taken them to her room. 

"I'm sorry it's such a mess. I trained in my room today." He trailed behind her as she headed to the kitchen, noticing a yoga mat and a few weights scattered around her living room area. There was an empty glass on the table that she swiped away into the kitchen sink, grabbing two wine glasses and a bottle of red wine from the fridge. "No, I don't drink on a daily basis. I was just going to have some later because it's New Years." He smirked at her. She'd read his thoughts. 

"Very funny." She handed him a half-full glass and leaned against the kitchen countertop, Peter standing in front of her. She glanced at her drink.

"How long?" He cocked his head at her.

"How long what?"

"How long have you felt this way?" He took a deep breath, taking his time to answer as he took her in. The black heels she wore made her legs look attractively longer and her dress showed off the strong yet elegant stature of her collar bone. Her lips were tinted with red lipstick. He wondered what they'd felt like when he kissed them. 

"A while." She gulped her wine until it was almost half gone. She was very nervous. Pursing her lips, she sipped the rest of her wine and placed the empty glass behind her. Peter took his first sip. 

"Tell you what," She said quietly yet confidently. "Let's cut the small talk because I feel like we've done a lot of that already." She sighed before looking him directly in the eyes. "Since you first came running into Stark Tower the first day I arrived here, I fell for you. Plain as day. But I never admitted it because I didn't think you felt that way towards me." Peter watched her as she smiled lightly. "When you asked to talk to me at my birthday party, I thought you were going to do it... to do what you did tonight. We were so close to..." She closed her mouth for a second. "Maybe I'm just lovesick because I've never felt like this towards anybody before." Peter chugged his drink in a few gulps before setting his glass down next to hers. He knew he was going to need the alcohol in his system in order to finish this conversation.

"If you're lovesick then I must completely out of my mind." She released an exasperated breath with a smile. 

"I don't have a problem with that?" He scrunched his nose at her with a playful smirk.

"Is that so Miss Stacy?" 

"It is Mr. Parker." He took a step closer to her, their eyes never leaving each other for a second. Mustering up the courage, he stroked her cheek with the tips of his fingers. In return, she grazed her fingers along his neck and behind his ear. "Peter... I don't want to be tormented by the thought of almost kissing twice now..." The hint was extremely valid, almost like she was telling him straight on what she was hoping for. He leaned down closer to her.

"I never told you how beautiful you look tonight." She smiled with delight at his implied compliment and glanced at his lips.

"Thank you." Their lips brushed for the third time, his lips tingling like he knew they would. This time there would be no distractions, no interruptions, just him and Claire. Finally, their lips collided. Fireworks exploded throughout Claire's body as she relished this memorable moment, a moment she too had been daydreaming about. They kissed each other gently, playfully nipping at each other's bottom lip and smiling before continuing. As the kiss deepened further, Claire's arms wrapped around Peter's neck and he held her body close to him, afraid that if he let go he would wake up and the moment would dissolve into a bittersweet dream. When they pulled away for air, they kept their eyes on each other, lightly panting but craving more. A muffled cheer sounded above them, making them glance up at her ceiling before Claire looked at her watch. Midnight. She looked up Peter with a smile.

"Happy New Year, Peter-"

Peter jerked awake in the darkness of his room, his body in shock as a shivering cold sweat overcame him. He panted heavily, his chest heaving up and down drastically. He sat up, the covers of his bed falling off his upper body to expose his bare chest. He shook his head in fear as he glanced around frantically. 

"No... no, not again. Not now. Not..." He choked on his words at the realization. Everything that had just happened was merely in his head. His head fell into his hands as he cried silently to himself. This was the worst nightmare he'd ever encountered.


	9. Take Three

_March 14th, 2017_

Clint sprinted past everyone as we made our way to the Stark Jet, Widow trailing right behind him.

"Dibs on driving!" Clint yelled childishly.

"Like hell you are!" Widow yelled back. Peter shook his head at them with a smile. Claire sighed as she crossed her arms and looked up at him.

"Ready to go?" He nodded his head as they started their walk to the lowered ramp entrance. Claire didn't know about Peter's nightmares, especially the one he'd had specifically about her. It crushed him inside to think about it. He'd wished so hard that the dream was actually real and he was just confused and hungover. But he'd quickly realized that wasn't the case. Their feet clanged against the ramp as Claire entered first. They were headed to Germany since Bruce discovered that's where almost all of the trafficked girls were planned to be shipped. Steve immediately made the arrangements to get to Germany as soon as possible. These cases were only growing and they weren't slowing down anytime soon. It was time they were put to a stop. Claire sensed Peter was conflicted and anxious about something, but she didn't want to bother him about it. She'd gradually tried moving conversations back into their friendship, but it didn't seem to be doing much as Peter was still very reserved from her. 

She heard clanging and bustling as she turned her head towards the control room. Sure enough, Tasha and Clint were battling it out for the driver's seat, shoving each other off the chair and swinging at each other with smirks on their faces.

"And you guys call me a kid," She called loud enough for them to hear. Clint looked at her briefly, his hands up in combat stance. Taking advantage of Clint's distracted state, Tasha swiped his legs out from under him, standing straight with confidence as she blew the hair out of her face. 

"Thanks, Claire," She said as she kicked Clint playfully.

"Um, you're welcome, I guess." Tasha reached down to help Clint up, both of them still smirking at each other.

"I'll let you drive just for letting me beat you up." Clint scoffed at her comment and shook his head at her. 

"How very generous of you, even after throwing my back out, bursting my lungs and breaking my legs." Tasha patted his shoulder and made her way towards Claire and Peter. 

"How gracious of me," She sang with a smile on her face, her hair flowing as she fist-bumped Claire and the pair walked to the seating area together. Peter watched them for a second before deciding to go by Clint. The archer glanced at Peter as he flipped switches overhead of the pilot seat.

"You haven't done what I told you to do yet," He stated, making Peter cringe inside.

"Well, technically I did. It just wasn't in real life." Clint sighed and sat in the cushioned seat, strapping himself in as he smirked childishly and said, "Even your dreams are getting a head start on you." Peter groaned.

"This isn't the time, Clint. I'm working on it." He watched as Clint's finger found his earpiece.

"Taking off now," He announced to the team. "Get comfy. It's going to be a long ride." He spoke to Peter after releasing his hand but kept his eyes looking forward. "You're not going to have a lot of time after this mission, Peter." Peter gazed at the side of Clint's face. His brows were furrowed and lips in a tight line as he concentrated on lifting the plane for take-off.

"What do you mean?" Clint sighed with an almost sad expression. Whatever it was that he was about to tell Peter, it couldn't be good. Or at least, not what Peter was wanting to hear. 

"You, Dr. Banner and Wanda are being relocated to stay in Germany for a while after this mission is over." Peter's heart panged. The jet shuddered and they hit a small wave of turbulence, causing Peter to stumble back into the co-pilot seat. He ran his hands over his face. He was tired, unable to sleep at night again, especially after his nightmare about finally telling Claire how he felt about her.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me, Clint." 

"Unfortunately I'm not this time. Cap wants people to stay behind to make sure that after we abolish this trafficking company it doesn't try to reboot and come back." He looked up at the skilled archer, his elbows resting on his knees as he gazed at him with pleading eyes.

"There has to be someone else that can take my place." Clint narrowed his eyes at Peter.

"I told you that night in the training gym that you had a limited time, Peter," Clint scolded. "Besides, you shouldn't let your feelings towards someone ever come between you and your job. This is more important than making googly eyes at a girl." Peter leaned back in the chair and muttered to himself: "You take vacations to go see your family. I don't see a difference." Clint glared at Peter.

"I have a wife and kids, _Parker_." His words were venomous. "I take my leave strategically and come back the moment I get a call from Stark. I know my limitations and understand how my job works. As for you, you're just helplessly following Claire around like a goddamn lovesick puppy and hoping she makes the first move-" Someone cleared their throat by the entrance. Both Peter and Clint clamped their mouths shut as they realized it was Claire who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Peter's eyes widened helplessly as he sat there frozen in his seat. Clint though had a noticeably small smirk on his face as he glanced between the two. 

"H-how long-"

"The whole time," Claire stated cooly. Peter felt the color drain from his face as he swallowed, watching as a small smile tugged at her lips and her cheeks tinted pink. Claire nodded her head once behind her. "Think I can talk to you, Peter?" He blinked at her dumbfounded, still trying to grasp what was happening right now. 

"Y-yeah, sure. Just give me a second." He watched as she turned around and walked back down the short hallway, waiting until she rounded the corner to leap from his seat and slap Clint's arm multiple times. "This is all your fault!" Clint just smiled knowingly, keeping one hand on the steering wheel while he used his other to swat at Peter's incoming attacks. Peter grasped his hair as he made his way through the hallway, hearing Clint call behind him: "You'll thank me later!" He wrung his hands together and cracked his knuckles while taking a deep breath as he rounded the corner, then yelped in a panic when he saw Claire standing right behind the corner with a sly smile. He grasped his chest as to slow down his heartbeat which he was fully sure she sensed. "You-"

"Scared me?" She finished. Her eyes sparkled with an underlying playfulness. 

"Well, yeah." She let her eyes roam him in a once-over, quite aware Peter saw her as she did so.

"I can practically feel the anxiety rolling off you, Pete." He cleared his throat and crossed his arms nervously. 

"You wanted to talk to me?" He suggested as he attempted escaping the touchy subject. Her smile faltered.

"Since you're not going to make the first move," she said. "I will. I really like you, Peter." Peter froze once more, watching her as he licked his lips, his mouth suddenly feeling dry.

"If this is another dream I'm going to fucking lose it." The comment put a smile on her face as she laughed once and pursed her lips. 

"You were dreaming about me?" He inhaled deeply as she watched him and waited for an answer. 

"Well, um... yes- I mean no, not exactly, it was a nightmare- wait, it's not-" He was silenced after she rolled her eyes and gripped his shirt in her balled fist, pulling him close to her and tilting her head up to meet his lips gently. Peter gaped in shock for what felt like hours before letting his eyes flutter closed and allowing the moment to take its own course. She pulled away seconds later, but only far enough to be able to look into his eyes. 

"Shut up, Peter," She whispered before reconnected their lips and wrapping her arms around his neck while Peter held her close by snaking his hands around her waist. Minutes passed and time seemed to pause as they shared this intimate moment with each other. A slow clap sounded behind Peter. They both turned hastily to find out who it was. Clint smirked as he watched them with a raised eyebrow.

"Clint, who's flying the jet??" Peter asked with panic. Clint snickered silently before answering: "Autopilot," and rushing back into the control room. Claire turned Peter's attention back to her by nudging his chin with her finger. They kissed again lightly before she punched him in the shoulder, her lovely smile complimented by her blushing cheeks. "Owe. What the hell." 

"That," She pointed at him accusingly. "Is for making me wait." He glanced around the room sheepishly before meeting her eyes again. Claire shook her head knowingly, her smile still present, as she walked backwards to catch up with the rest of the group. "Men."


	10. Germany

Peter watched as Widow pulled at Claire's hair, shoving pins into it to keep her curled bun in place. Claire looked almost like she was going to rip someone's eyes out as she clawed at the seat cushion, her teeth gritting as Widow told her to hush up. Steve was explaining the vendetta but he wasn't listening as closely as he knew he probably should. His eyes were glued to Claire ever since the stunt she pulled at the beginning of the plane ride and the act only caused his interest in her to grow stronger.

He had to admit that he never saw Widow as being a dressy person, but he understood she probably used it as part of her undercover work. After all, disguises were very important when utilizing your spy skills. Widow's whisper was harsh, almost like a mother scolding her child.

"Would you hold still for just one fucking second? Jesus Christ, Claire." 

"It's kind of hard when you're _puncturing my skull over and over with sharp ass bobby pins_!" She hissed the second half of the sentence venomously. It took all Peter had in him to keep himself from laughing. She did look beautiful, though. He forced himself to turn his attention back to Steve just as he was circling around to glance at the spiderling. 

"The founder of this trafficking company is a man named Leon Fischer, a man in his early sixties." Tony projected an image of an older man with a beard cut to perfection and a sleek haircut. The image showed him holding two beautiful women next to him, both of them smiling. Or trying to. "He's throwing a party at his mansion tonight in Berlin. The event is being used as a coverup for his incoming shipment. In fact, a majority of the guests he's invited are there to offer deals with him and talk about the growth of the company, which is why this is the perfect opportunity for us to get a closer look, and if possible, end it once and for all." Claire sucked in a breath as Tasha pinned her hair once again.

"I'm guessing I'll be undercover again? Because if she's doing this to me just for the fun of it, I'm going to hold every one of you responsible for watching me suffer." Clint chuckled along with Tony. Steve smiled at her humorously.

"Yes, Claire, you're going undercover. In fact, all of us will be." He turned back to the other half of the room. "We’ll all have a designated partner throughout the night. All of us are to watch for any strange activity, and if you do see any, you're to report it over the coms." He dismissed the team to ready themselves for the upcoming party. Tony, Clint, Steve, Peter, and Vision all walked to a separate room, leaving the girls to themselves. Wanda watched them leave before approaching Tasha and Claire. Finally, Tasha stuck in the last pin, very painfully in fact, and nearly shoved Claire out of the chair to start Wanda's hair. But she didn't mind, she didn't want her hair being tugged at any more than it needed to be.

About an hour later Clint parked the jet atop a building owned by Stark Industries. The girls were still finishing last-minute touchups on the jet while the guys went on ahead and entered the door leading to the inside of the building. After they decided they were good to go, they strode down the ramp and into the building as well, taking the elevator down to the main floor.

Wanda wore a long, black, long-sleeved dress that hugged her figure and accentuated her straightened auburn hair. Tasha decided she'd wear a flowy, deep green, off-the-shoulder gown that brightened her green eyes. Claire thought it was fitting for her as she knew Tasha wouldn't want to be restricted by a tight dress if she ended up having to use her combat skills. As for Claire, she picked a simple, fitted red wine-colored dress that sported a slit that drew up to her right midthigh. The waist was tight and the two-inch-thick straps showed off her collarbone while the front plunged just slightly to add a hidden sexiness. Her deep red lipstick matched almost perfectly and her open-toed, diamond-studded heels added a little spice to the outfit. 

The three women strode out confidently when the elevator doors opened and then men gazed at them, all of their jaws dropping. The sight only made them smirk wider. But Claire's favorite reaction was Peter. His hands were in his pockets and his eyebrows were raised in awe as he watched her stride over to him. His eyes followed her but his body remained shocked, his mouth opening and closing as if he was trying to pick what to say. Instead, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. Everyone's jaws dropped further as they watched her. 

"Um, excuse me," Tony cut in abruptly, his hands waving in confusion. "What is going on here??" Claire walked over to him next and kissed his cheek too, causing Tony's posture to straighten slightly. 

"I'll explain later. For now, let's focus on the mission."

"Did I just see you kiss Peter's cheek young lady?" Claire giggled and lead the way outside where a limousine was waiting for them. 

"You bet your ass you did." Peter's face was beet red when Tony looked to him for answers. "And you can't kill Peter because I'm the one that started it. So lay off his back, okay?" Tony laughed a desperate breath.

" _What is going on here_?" He asked again with a more mind-boggled tone. Everyone just passed him with a smile, Steve patting his shoulder in amusement as they made their way to the car. The driver opened the door for them politely, allowing Claire to enter first. They all filed in one after another, Peter sliding in next to her while Tasha and Steve sat across from her. Claire crossed her right leg over her left, the slit of her dress sliding down her leg to expose the tip of a gun that she'd strapped to her thigh. Tasha smiled when she noticed.

"I taught you well," She muttered as she took a glass of champagne from Clint who was sitting next to Peter. Claire smirked and covered the gun back up with her dress.

"Yes, you did."

Peter helped Claire out of the limousine, her hand warm as he grasped it. She looked absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. He offered her his arm, which she took with a shy smile, and walked with her up the entrance stairs. He admired the way her dress hugged her body and illuminated her best features, like her legs and her lips and neck. 

"You look very handsome," She complimented. Tony had brought him a tuxedo to wear for the night. On the outside, it looked like a normal suit, but this is Tony's craftsmanship we're talking about here. The tux held many hidden pockets of small guns, knives, and even extra supply containers of webs in case Peter needed them. He smiled down at her graciously. 

"Thank you. I was too awe-stricken to tell you how amazing you look, but I think the face was pretty self-explanatory." Each hero filed in next to the rest of the group, all of them taking in their surroundings before Steve turned to face all of them.

"Alright, here's the plan. Nat and Clint, you'll go investigate the balcony. Wanda and Vision, stay here and keep your eyes open for Fischer if he walks in or out. Peter and Claire, go check out the dance floor. Tony and I will try to get into some behind-the-scenes stuff. Remember to stay tuned on the coms." They all nodded before parting to their distinct location, Peter taking her hand gently and beginning to lead her through the crowd before Tony cut in front of him and placed a hand on his chest to stop him. 

"Now Peter," He said lowly. "I am fine with, whatever is going on, here," He gestured to their joined hands with circular hand motions of his own and Claire rolled her eyes. "But if you hurt her in any way, you know that I'm going to kick your ass, you understand me?" Peter nodded with pursed lips, not knowing what to say. Tony raised his eyebrows at him and leaned his ear closer, implying he wanted a verbal answer. 

"I understand you, Mr. Stark."

"Good." He glanced at Claire and kissed her cheek before following a smiling Steve. Claire squeezed Peter's hand reassuringly as they continued towards the large dance floor, a mix of marble and granite. They paused to look around every few seconds, talking to each other casually to try to keep suspicions away from them. 

"You remember what this dude looks like, right?" He asked Claire as they searched around the room.

"Yeah, for the most part." When she turned back to her partner he was gazing at her softly. "What?" He shrugged and leaned in close to her ear to make sure she could hear him.

"I can't keep my eyes off of you." Her stomach fluttered at his low tone. She felt him smile against her cheek as he asked, "Do you want something to drink?" She blinked for a moment before nodding her head. They reached towards each other as Peter made his way to a nearby table, not wanting to be alone or away from each other. Claire bit her lip as she waited patiently for his return, studying the structures of the building and letting her eyes float throughout the area. As she looked farther up she spotted Tasha watching her from the balcony railing that circled the open patch of the second floor. Her hand reached for her earpiece.

"He ditched you already?" The Russian spy asked in a serious tone, although her face contradicted it, her face beaming with a smile when Claire answered, "Very funny, Tasha." They made sure they were speaking on their personal line of communication so that it was only them who could hear each other. Peter returned a second later with a fancy glass filled with red punch. 

"Thank you." They continued searching and scanning, everyone asking questions and making suggestions over the coms as time went by. Claire glanced at her gold watch. "It's almost one in the morning, guys. When does this thing end?" 

"Knowing this guy it probably goes all night," Tony retorted. Claire shook her head to herself.

"Steve we need to find these girls. There's probably deals going on right now that we don't know about." 

"Working on it." She released her hand from her ear and sighed. Peter held his hand out to her, Claire's eyes scanning his gesture before taking it.

"If you don't mind I would love to take my beautiful date to dance." Her face warmed and she opened her mouth to retaliate, but he beat her to it. "And you can't tell me you don't dance. I've watched you do it to work out before." Her eyes widened as he guided her to the floor, turning to face her when they got there. She allowed him to take her hand and hold her close with the other as she placed her other hand on his shoulder. 

"When did you see that?" She asked him. He smiled at her proudly.

"About two weeks ago. You're very talented." She bit her lip to contain her smile and let him sweep her away through the music. They chatted about training and what they liked to do to keep themselves in shape, then moved to random topics like school before discussing how Peter wished she would take her heels off so he could be taller once more, granted he was still taller by at least an inch. Every moment or so he would twirl or dip her, causing her to smile wide with aspiration. But her smile faded when she heard Clint over the com, his voice tight.

"Claire, Fischer at twelve o'clock. He's passing you and Peter." She turned her head so her ear was facing Peter's chest, acting as if she was tucking some hair behind her ear while she clicked the earpiece.

"Copy that, should we follow him?" 

"Yes," Steve answered quickly. "Tony is downloading some files onto a hard drive. If you see him trying to leave, stop him." She glanced at Peter, both of them nodding their heads at each other before splitting and watching him from different areas.

"Tasha, what's your status?" Claire asked her friend. There was some shuffling before she answered.

"Well, I was asked to show my party invitation by some guys so I knocked 'em out. We need to hurry this up or the mission will be compromised." Steve got back online.

"We're done here. Now we need to find a way to get Fischer away from the scene." 

"Leave that to me," Reassured Clint. Peter glanced at her from across the room, his eyes silently asking if she knew what he meant by that. She shrugged at him and sent her thoughts his way.

" _No idea_." He nodded at her then looked at something behind her. She turned to see Clint casually walking towards her. She looked away and waited for him to stop beside her, the archer facing towards her but to the side so they were shoulder to shoulder. He spoke to her without making eye contact.

"I'm going to pretend I'm a dealer. You're going to be the offer and Peter will be the backup." Her eyes widened.

"What? Clint-"

"It's just an act, Claire, don't stress it. You know Peter and I won't let anything happen to you." She swallowed before nodding curtly.

"Alright." She watched as he made his way to Fischer then looked to Peter.

_"I'm the bait, you're the backup. Got it?_ " He frowned at her worriedly.

" _Claire..._ "

" _It's just to get Fischer alone._ " She and Peter watched as the two men smiled and shook hands, exchanging a few words before Clint put his hand on the man's shoulder and whispered into his ear. She could see from the man's expression that whatever the archer was telling him seemed to be intriguing. But what really made her stomach turn was when the older man looked directly at her and smirked. She took a deep breath and swallowed again, straightening her posture. She did that when she felt intimidated or endangered; it had become a habit for her. Fischer nodded and said a few last words before following Clint to meet Claire where she was standing. When they reached her she put on a fake smile.

"Mr. Fischer, I'm pleased to introduce Miss Rachel Baker to you." The man eyed her hungrily as he took her hand and kissed it. His beard was beginning to gray noticeably. 

"The pleasure is all mine," He growled before standing and gesturing to a door at the other end of the room. "Why don't we discuss the rest of this transition in a more secure area?" Clint nodded his head once before allowing Fischer to lead the way. Claire and Clint exchanged glances as they followed him.

" _Peter, what do you have in that jacket of yours?_ " Peter was trailing them from only a few feet away.

" _Coming up behind you_." Claire clasped her hands behind her back and opened her right hand for him to place the object in her hand. She felt Peter place a blade into her palm, then quickly held it out to Clint just before slipping inside the door ahead of him. Without being caught, he jammed the small knife into the doorframe so that the door didn’t shut all the way. Almost immediately after entering the room, she heard Peter speak over the com.

"Clint and Claire are inside. I'm on standby, waiting until the right moment to strike."

"Great," Said Steve. "Nat?"

"Yup, on my way. I forgot to ask, is this a strikeout mission?" There was a pause as everyone sat on the edge, waiting for Steve's answer. A 'strikeout' meant that they, well, exterminated the puppeteer, so to speak. They usually had Nat do it because she was good at keeping her emotions at bay. The Red Room had practically burned what emotions she had, but during times like this, she used it to her advantage. Claire heard Steve sigh with disappointment. "It's going to have to be." 

"On it." Claire stood still as Fischer circled her, examining his product. 

"How much are you thinking?" He asked Clint with caution. Clint shrugged.

"That's to be discussed," He said. Tasha spoke again.

"I'm outside the door with Pete. Ready to engage." Claire looked at Clint with as blank an expression she could muster. He stared back at her, then licked his lips, cocking his head at the German man who was now tilting Claire's face back and forth. 

"I actually have another offer I forgot to mention to you. She's just as beautiful as this one here. I do believe she’s waiting for us somewhere close by." 

"Hm," Fischer hummed. "Very well. Send her in." Clint nodded and left the room momentarily. Fischer dragged his finger from her cheek to her neck and then down the center of her chest. His eyes were smolderingly disgusting. The thought of such a dirty man made her want to vomit in her own mouth. Her breath hitched and panic rose when he placed his other hand on her exposed thigh, reaching higher and higher up her leg... until he touched the gun halter. He glanced down, confused and alarmed and Claire elbowed him in the face, causing him to falter. She quickly took the gun from its hiding spot and rounded him, then reached over his head and pulled the gun against his neck to block his airway. The man backed up at an incredulous speed, slamming her into the wall, but she didn't dare loosen her grip. He choked and gurgled on his own words, desperately clawing at her hands to free himself from his deathwish. 

"This is for trafficking those innocent girls, asshole." Seconds later he fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. She bent down to check his pulse, sighing when she wasn't able to find one. A moment later, Tasha, Clint, and Peter all calmly entered the room. That is until they saw a shaking Claire standing over the dead body of a trafficking king. 

"Claire," Tasha called with a sad look on her face.

"I-I didn't know what else to do. He was getting touchy-feely with me and then he found my gun," She rambled. "He would've killed me first if I didn't do something." Tasha placed her hands on either of Claire's shoulders.

"I know, Claire. You did what you had to do." Tasha released her hastily as she called Steve, letting him know the job was done but didn't tell him who had done it. He probably assumed it was Tasha who finished it, anyway.

"Copy that," Steve said. "Tony has the information he needed. We'll meet you back in the limo."


	11. Training Day

_March 15th, 2017 (The next day)_

Claire stood leaned against the wall next to the kitchen doorframe, watching as Tony paced the living room with his hand over his mouth in deep thought. He rubbed his eyes, sniffled every once in a while, or mumbled to himself incoherently every few moments. She wanted to ask what he was thinking about, but Claire knew not to disturb Tony when he was in deep as thought as he was right now. She sipped from the coffee cup in her hand gradually, sighing when the much-needed caffeine entered her system. She smiled gently when Clint walked through the door and took his place beside her, also leaning against the wall.

"He's still acting like a maniac?" He asked, making Claire laugh and shake her head as she countered: "When is he ever not acting like one?" Clint nodded his head with a slightly pouted lip. 

"What do you think he's mumbling to himself about?" She asked him as he glanced at her.

He answered with a shrug: "I couldn't tell ya. But if I had to guess, I'd probably say he was thinking about the info he downloaded last night." Claire nodded before sipping her coffee.

"Makes sense." Claire thought about how things felt different without Peter here. Even if they had been ignoring each other for a while, he was always still walking around the tower. Now, though, since he was still in Germany, it seemed lonesome and boring. At least she still had Clint and Tasha. Claire finished off her drink and turned towards the doorless doorframe. "I'm heading up. Gotta get my training in before patrol." 

"Mind if I join you?" Claire paused and glanced at him, a knowing smile crossing her face.

"You just want to kick my ass." She walked over to place her cup in the dishwasher.

"Isn't that my job?" She shook her head before walking past him.

"Let's go."

Peter tossed his pen in his hand up and down. He was leaning back, slumped in his chair as Wanda and Bruce consulted about possible places to check out to make sure the company wasn't still up and running. So far everything seemed to be just fine. The number of girls disappearing was greatly diminishing.

“ _Peter_?” Peter’s eyebrows lifted and his eyes widened slightly with admittance. He loved the sound of Claire's voice, even if it was in his head. She sounded innocent, which she was while she was putting on her innocent girl act, but she was actually the badass he hadn't expected her to be. 

“ _Yeah_?” Claire played with a strand of hair as she laid in her bed. She smiled. 

“ _Nothing. Just bored and needed something to do. I miss you_.” Peter looked down with a breathy laugh. 

“ _It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours_.”

“ _That’s no excuse._ ” He smiled again at her optimism. 

“ _I guess not. I miss you too_.” Claire yawned as she turned on her side to fiddle with the bedsheet. 

“ _Mm. Any sign of Fischer’s outlines_?” He glanced at his two teammates talking about something that had to do with a boat docking on a harbor. 

“ _Not that I’m aware of. I’m basically just sitting on my ass while the others figure everything out. It’s boring as hell over here._ ” He paused and tossed his pen again. “ _I wish you were here_.” The comment made Claire blush. 

“ _And I wish you were here_ ,” she countered. 

"Peter, come look at this," Wanda said to him with a beckoning hand motion. He quickly spoke to Claire as he got up from his rolling chair.

" _Duty calls. Talk later_?" 

" _We can talk when you get back_ ," She told him. " _I don't want to be a distraction. Besides, I'd love to save our conversations for when you get back and we can talk face to face. I find myself longing to look into those chocolate eyes of yours_." Peter shook his head comically and made his way to the computer Wanda and Bruce were hovering over.

" _As you wish_."  
  


_April 2nd, 2017_

Peter lounged in his jet chair, his leg bouncing impatiently and anxiously. His stay in Germany was extended longer than they'd thought and he hadn't talked to Claire since the day she got back to New York. There were many times he wanted to call out to her telepathically or text her phone, but he replayed her voice in his head whenever he had the urge to. ' _We can talk when you get back_ '. He pushed himself up from his seat and walked over to where Bruce was manning the jet. Normally the one flying the plane was Clint or Widow, but since neither of them was here to take on the task, Mr. Half-Hulk had to do it, despite Peter's constant pleas to fly it himself. Peter ran a tired hand over his face as he paced down the short hallway, seeing the back of Bruce's head above the pilot seat. 

"How much longer?" Peter asked him as he came to stand next to him. 

"About thirty minutes. Relax, you'll see Claire soon enough." Bruce smiled knowingly to himself. "I'm sure she'll come running out of that building the moment she hears the jet overhead." Peter blushed and shook his head at the scientist. 

"Yeah, whatever." Bruce merely shrugged, his smile still on his face. 

"Is that a challenge I hear?" Peter eyed him and crossed his arms over his chest. He truly wasn't sure if that was something Claire would do. He'd seen both her reserved and obnoxious sides.

"Are we making a bet or what?" 

"Ten dollars she runs to meet you when you get off the jet." Peter nodded in consideration, then shrugged. What the heck, it's only ten dollars, right? 

"Fine. Ten dollars she won't. Deal?" 

"It's a deal." Peter sat slumped in the passenger seat the rest of the ride, Wanda still in the normal seating area doing whatever it was that she does while Peter annoyed Bruce by shooting webs at and around him, sometimes climbing onto the ceiling and dropping in front of him. Bruce jumped when he did this, scolding the young Avenger yet having a small smirk on his face as he did so. It seemed like no time at all and they were back in New York lowering onto the top of Stark Tower. Peter felt his heart beat in his chest as the hair on his arms stood up. He reflexively glanced at his forearm then grabbed his duffle bag before heading for the ramp to exit the jet. Gusts of wind tossed Peter's hair around from the jet engines still being on. He blinked instinctively to protect his eyes, barely seeing Claire as she came barreling toward him with a smile. He had to take a step back from the force of her hugging him so abruptly, Claire only giggling at him as she pulled her face away from his chest to gaze up at him.

"Welcome home." Their lips connected hungrily for each other. He'd missed her, probably even more than she missed him. They listened to the background of the propellers shutting down as they continued to kiss each other gently, only pulling away to catch their breath. Peter felt a light smack on the back of his shoulder and watched Bruce walk past as he said: "I told you." Claire watched him with confused, furrowed brows before turning back to her boyfriend. 

"What does he mean?" Peter shook his head and placed his finger under her chin to kiss her once more before walking together back inside the building. He gripped the handles of his duffle bag in one hand and Claire's hand in the other as they cascaded downwards inside the elevator.

Clint joked all the time about how they were together because of him, saying if he hadn't pushed Peter to even think about making a move then it would have never worked. Of course, it ended up with a brutal punch to the arm from Claire, but he complyingly stopped making accusations. He was happy for the two of them. Natasha mostly kept to herself about it, either not bothering or not caring about it. Tony, on the other hand, seemed extremely conflicted about the two of them announcing they cared for each other. Mostly because Peter was practically a son to him, and Claire was, well, his adopted daughter. It was hard for him to accept and he still found it partially weird, but he knew that this was Claire he'd have to deal with and he was aware she wouldn't take no as an answer from him, just like she always did.

Peter opened the training door for his girlfriend as she sipped her water bottle. He noticed the way her leggings made her legs look athletic and strong and her tanktop showcased her slender upper body. Upon walking in she tossed her bottle near a mirrored wall and flipped her head upside down as to put her hair in a ponytail. 

"I'll be starting with the bench if that's cool with you," She stated as she took her hair tie from around her wrist. Peter glanced at her as she was straightening her posture again.

"Sure." Without more conversing, they went to their separate sides of the room, Peter heading for the individual weights and Claire taking a deep breath as she laid herself down on the padded workout bench and looked at the resting bar aligned perfectly above her eyes. With a swallow, she gripped the ridged strips of the bar and hoisted it off of its holsters, then began pumping her arms up and down. Peter found it hard to keep his mind focused on his own workout considering his beautiful girlfriend was only a few dozen feet away. He wanted to look at her, compliment her, _memorize_ her. With a purse of his lips, he lifted his seventy-five-pound weight in his hand. The minutes passed quickly, both heroes glancing expectantly at each other every other moment. They knew what they had to do, and surely understood skipping their workout wasn't an option, but they also knew they wanted more than to just be in the same room. After almost an hour of working individually, Claire finally cleared her throat and crossed her arms. Peter, who was finishing his sit-ups, paused when she caught his attention.

"Care to spar?" He breathed deeply as he tried to control his rapid heartbeat. His adrenaline was kicking in and he was at the point where he felt as if he could do almost anything. He answered with a hasty nod.

"Yeah. Sounds fun." Claire turned to the boxing ring with a small smirk on her lips as she muttered softly: "You might change your mind after this." She bent her way through the elastic strings surrounding the boxed arena and stretched her arms across her chest as she turned towards the middle of the ring. Across the other side was Peter.

"You sure about this?" She asked with her smirk still planted on her face. Peter raised an eyebrow and smiled gently before crouching in a combat stance.

"Bring it." Claire didn't hesitate to burst at him with an elbow jab then a left hook, both of which Peter avoided. He came at her with a sidekick followed by an exploding punch to the stomach. Claire yelped when his foot collided with her, causing her to stumbled back for a moment, but no later than a second and she was coming back at him with another left hook and then a knee to his own stomach which she'd managed to sneak in. Peter clutched his stomach and took a deep breath as he waited to gain his senses back. Before either of them knew it they were coming back at each other again, hands swinging at heads and legs kicking at each other's torsos. 

Both of them exhausted from the constant, high-speed tempo of the sparring, they panted rapidly and sweat dripped down their faces. Finally, Claire faked a headshot punch and then quickly swiped her leg underneath him to take him off his feet. Peter landed with a thump and tried scrambling back up, but Claire kneeled one knee on his stomach to keep him put and raised her right elbow as if she were about to punch him. He sighed as he realized his defeat and closed his eyes for a second before Claire released the pressure from his abdomen and offered a hand to the spiderling. He took it graciously and heaved himself up with a grunt. The young woman smiled at him and kissed his cheek delicately. 

"You still like me, right?" She asked with a slightly worried tone in her voice. He walked with her to get her water bottle, gazing at her wondrous blue eyes. 

"I like you even more now than I did before. You just proved you know how to take care of other guys that come after my girl and I'm totally fine with that." She giggled and gulped on her water as they walked out of the gym together and headed to take a shower.


	12. Field Trip

_March 22nd, 2017_

Peter opened his eyes groggily to the sound of someone pounding on his bedroom door. With a yawn, he rubbed his eyes and made his way to the door, opening it to see his smiling girlfriend. He noticed she had a backpack strung over both her shoulders. 

"You slept in, didn't you?" She asked him with an arched eyebrow. He blinked sleepily at her, still confused as to how she even got into his room. In the tower, you couldn't get into other people's rooms without consent from the owner. Peter would have had to let her in through his watch, but he didn't get a notification or anything on it. He gestured his hand toward the elevator. 

"How did you..." 

"I hacked into the system and made myself a resident of your floor and vice versa. It's just easier that way." He nodded slowly at her as he tried to grasp what she was telling him. Claire only shook her head with a small smile and shooed him with her hands. "Come on, we're going to be late!" Peter trudged over to his closet and pulled out a pair of shorts and a shirt. "Make sure you grab a suit." 

"Yeah, yeah, I know." They were going to Luna Park in Brooklyn, New York for a class trip. Their professor's excuse behind going was 'to examine the gravitational pulls of the roller coasters and the waves of the water' at the water park. Of course, no one had objected to skipping a whole day of class. Peter just so happened to have slept through his alarm clock this morning. 

"I'll be in the kitchen." He listened as she pulled the door slightly closed and pampered down the hallway to the kitchen. He rustled on his clothes and brushed his teeth in the bathroom, checking to make sure his hair wasn't an unruly mess before lightly jogging towards the elevator with his backpack in hand. Claire peeked out from the open refrigerator door and tossed him a banana. "Heads up." He caught it singlehandedly and pressed the elevator button, watching her as she made her way to his side as the doors opened for them to enter. “Hey, you caught it this time,” she retorted. “Remember that one time when Aunt May threw a banana at you and-“

“Yes, Claire, I remember when it hit me in the face.” They both walked inside, Claire slipping her hand into Peter's as he punched another button then turned to her and pecked her lightly. "Good morning, beautiful."

<<<<<<>>>>>>

Claire hit Peter's shoulder playfully as their bus passed under the entry sign to the amusement park. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been able to go on roller coasters and water slides. Peter laughed and attempted to catch her wrists in his hands as she continued to slap him.

“Jeez, what is it with you and punching people?”

"Peter, Peter, guess what,” she told him while ignoring his comment. “We're here. Peter, we're here!" She rambled enthusiastically as they came to a stop. Peter finally was able to contain her weaponized limbs and they laughed together before he kissed her cheek playfully and they made their way off the bus. 

The first thing they did was hit the roller coasters. Claire practically dragged Peter across the park, not sure which ride to go on first and which to save for later. There were so many to choose from, and neither of them wanted to miss out on any of it. The day flew by faster than they'd expected. Hours felt like minutes as they waited in the long lines for the rides. Sometimes they decided to just skip a ride and try to come back later because the wait was so long. Most of them, though, were decently timed enough and worth the wait. After hitting the rides for a few hours, they both agreed that the heat today was not the most compliable, so they went to the water park. Peter waited on a pool chair for Claire who'd gone into the locker room to change into her suit. He listened and watched as everyone splashed in the wave pool and laughed as water trickled on top of them from a small waterfall. He scoffed silently to himself at the sight, remembering the times he'd splashed around like that once, too. A few seconds after that, he noticed two girls watching him and whispering amongst themselves, smiling guiltily when he noticed them and turning away for a moment before staring at him again. He swallowed uncomfortably and looked away. Peter ignored them, occasionally running his hand through his hair just to give him something to do while he waited. But only a few moments later, he caught sight of one of the girls in the corner of his eye. And she was walking towards him.

" _Any time now, Claire_ -" She walked out of the locker room, her hair pulled into a sporty ponytail and her skin tan as she exposed herself to the harsh sunlight. Claire noticed how Peter's jaw clenched when he looked at her, a sight that brought a slight blush to her cheeks as she approached him. But she soon noticed she wasn't the only one. Peter glanced towards a blonde girl who was making her way through the crowd toward him, making Claire's stomach clench with jealousy as she took longer steps to get to him quicker. She swiftly strode up to Peter, placing a gentle hand on his stomach as he stood up to meet her and looked up at him lovingly.

"Hey babe," She greeted, noting the blonde disappointingly walking right past them. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." He sighed and his body relaxed, his shoulders slouching slightly as he nodded at her.

"You did, you kept me waiting for too long." Peter shifted his swim bag into his other hand so he could pull Claire closer to him. Claire bit her lip playfully and smiled at him, then leaned up towards his ear.

"You're mine and I'm not letting you go, so I hope you would've turned down anyone that approached you. Otherwise, your protective girlfriend wouldn't be very pleased with you, Spidey." Peter chuckled to himself at her possessiveness. 

"I know, but I wouldn't trade you for the world." He kissed her forehead before continuing, allowing Claire to gaze up at him. "Not just any girl can kick a grown man's ass and get away with it." She smiled and set her bag down on the swim chair before taking Peter's hand and walking towards the shore of the wave pool. 

"I'm pretty awesome, aren't I?" 

"More than awesome," Peter stated as he glanced at her. "Perfect." He watched as his girlfriend attempted to contain the smile forcing its way onto her lips, her long, beautiful eyelashes fluttering as she glanced around the pool area. He examined the way her ponytail ran down the middle of her back like a waterfall and how her bikini accentuated her goddess-like stature. "By the way, what do you think you're wearing?" He asked her with a teasing expression. She gazed at him and opened her mouth to say something, but laughed and looked away again. He glanced at her lips as she licked them.

"It's hot today. And I always wear bikinis." 

"Not anymore. How do you expect me to focus on anything? And as for all the other guys in this park right now-"

"Peter, just think about it this way," She conversed as they made their way a little deeper into the water. "You're showing off your promising girlfriend; making guys jealous because I'm yours and not theirs and making girls here jealous that I have you, too." Peter glanced down as he let the cool water lap around his knees. The water was almost up to Claire's mid-thigh. "And you know what? I'm glad I can show you off. I'm evil like that." He chuckled at her as their conjoined hands submerged under the water. 

"My girl, evil?" He asked with playful defiance. "Never." Suddenly an alarm sounded and waves began forming little by little until they were taller than almost twelve feet at the highest. The pair leaped up with the waves, laughing when they were splashed with water and Peter pulling her close through the water and holding her against him. But about halfway through the timed waves, Claire's arms tingled and her senses heightened, as did Peter's. They pulled away from each other and blue eyes met hazel, both of them concerned. Claire began searching around frantically, looking to see any frantic faces in the crowd of people. She didn't notice anything until her eyes caught sight of a woman frantically running around the poolside being held back by a lifeguard.

"Please, my little girl, I'm telling you she's gone under!" Claire immediately submerged herself under the chilly liquid, forcing her eyes open under the chlorinated water. All sounds were muffled instantly, and a sudden peace washed over her, but she knew she had to focus. She searched around the pool, her head darting in all directions in search of a young girl. And then she saw it. A small girl, probably no older than six, was lying limply in the deeper end of the wave pool, no movement detected from Claire's eyes. She forced herself against the heavy currents of the rushing water, desperately trying to get to the helpless being. She tried ignoring the stinging in her lungs from lack of oxygen as she pushed harder through the water, but at a certain point, the pressure wouldn't allow her any further. Claire tried and tried only to get pushed back again. She wasn't close enough to reach and there was no way she'd be able to get close enough. She closed her eyes for a moment, dreading the aftermath of what she was about to do. But Claire knew that there was a life at stake and she was running out of time. She could feel her body beginning to give out on her. She needed air or she'd be of no help. So she extended her hand out in front of her and shot a web to the little girl.

<<<<<<>>>>>>

Claire sat slouched in a chair in the lounge, Peter sitting in his own chair to the left of her and Clint, Steve, and Tasha scattered around the room. Meanwhile, Tony was pacing back and forth in front of her, his hand clamped over his mouth as to keep his composure. She bit her cheek as he abruptly turned to her.

"Do you realize what could have happened?" Claire looked up at him through her thick eyelashes.

"I saved a girl's life-"

"You could have revealed your identity to the whole world, Claire," He scolded with a venomous bite. "I don't think you realize how serious this situation is." Claire straightened her posture. 

"I do realize it, dad. But I also took into consideration that an innocent girl was on the brink of death and I decided to do something about it." 

"Claire, there are lifeguards for a reason. They save people when they start to drown, okay?" Tony rubbed his neck before turning to Peter. "And you just let it happen-"

"He had no idea about what I was doing, dad," She cut in. He looked at her again, Peter keeping his head still but glancing at her. "I made the decision on my own. I risked my own life to help that girl because that's what I was trained to do-"

"Your job was to enjoy your day at the amusement park, not go undercover off-duty," He spat. Steve crossed his arms with a sigh while Clint leaned forward and placed his hands on the back of a sofa. Tasha was leaning against the kitchen doorway, listening from a distance. Claire's voice tightened.

"You couldn't have expected me to just sit there and watch her die." 

"No," Steve piped in. Tony glanced back at him, shoving his hands in his pants pockets. "But Tony does have a point. There were people there that are trained to save people from drowning." Her stomach clenched. She felt like she'd just been slapped in the face. Everyone knew that you didn't argue with Captain America. Well, everyone except for maybe Tony. "You just need to be more careful." She swallowed and rose from her seat, her cheeks flaring as she bit her tongue to keep her smart mouth in check. She turned her direction toward the balcony. 

"Copy that, Captain."


	13. Ambush

"Claire? Where do you think you're going?" Tony asked sternly as Claire aggressively pushed open the balcony doors. The wind whipped her hair into her face. She spoke loudly over the loud gusts penetrating her ears.

"I need to be alone." Clint took a few steps towards her. 

"Claire-"

"Don't," She warned as she hopped up onto the railing and balanced herself on it before looking back at everyone. Her stomach gurgled with guilt when she saw Peter's frowning face. Tony threw his hands up in disbelief.

"I'm just trying to protect you." 

"I'm twenty years old! I can take care of myself perfectly fine!" Suddenly something struck her back, causing her to lose balance and fall onto the balcony floor, and crouch on her hands and knees. Peter immediately leaped from his seat and rushed to her, but Tony held him back. 

"No, we don't know what that was. It could be dangerous." Peter watched anxiously as a black goo-like substance crawled around Claire's body, then disappeared as it sank into her skin. All the while Claire was coughing and struggling against the substance, not quite aware of what was going on. The other Avengers rushed to the door opening and watched her intently with worried eyes. Peter felt helpless as Tony kept him from reaching her and could only watch her struggle from a distance. Moments later a helicopter appeared from above and hovered near the balcony. Peter noticed the side door was open and there were a few men with guns inside, as well as a menacing, black creature with a long tongue and stretched white eyes. Tony's breath hitched when he realized who it was. The creature hopped onto the balcony and scooped up Claire only to quickly hop back into the helicopter, but not before smiling evilly at everyone watching the scene. He then ordered his driver to get the hell out of there immediately. Since Tony was too shocked to keep Peter in place anymore, the spiderling was able to break through the man-held barrier and chased after the helicopter, shooting a web at the landing rung. Widow began shooting her gun while Clint fired his arrows and Steve caught a gun from Widow as she tossed it to him instinctively. Peter swung helplessly from his long string of web and tried desperately to avoid the gun fires being shot at him. He squinted up at the 'copter as his hair blew into his eyes and a flock of birds ran into him.

"Awe come on!" He said aloud to himself. When the man shooting at him retreated back inside the 'copter, his body eased with relief... until Venom emerged instead. _Shit_. He roared at Peter angrily and snapped apart his web like it was nothing more than a toothpick. "No!" Peter fell through the air, his arms still reaching for the helicopter as he dropped. He shot for a light post and swung through the city rapidly, trying to make sure nobody saw him as he did. He knew that Tony and Steve would kill him if anyone found out he was Spider-Man. His arms ached as he levied himself up and down through the city and huffed with annoyance when the 'copter gradually grew farther and farther away. He only stopped when it was nowhere in sight, landing on the top of a tall building and watching longingly in the direction his love had disappeared in and holding his head in his hands.

<<<<<<>>>>>>

Claire's head ached as she woke, her eyes blurry as her senses slowly gained control. She felt a slight buzzing in her head, but not like how it felt when she first met Peter. No, this was different. It wasn't painful, and it didn't fog her senses. 

"Hello, Claire." She jumped at the presence of a deep, ferocious voice from across the room. Her body trembled in fright when her eyes laid on the menacing creature. Its teeth protruded in a crowded form from its mouth and its eyes extended towards the back of its head. She scurried herself against the farthest wall possible, her legs kicking to get away.

"W-who are you?" It leaned its head innocently to the side and took slow steps towards her as it held its palms towards her in surrender. _**Venom**_. She gasped at the loud voice, but it didn't come from the creature. Its mouth hadn't moved. And it was a female tone.

"You don't have any reason to be afraid."

"Get away from me!" **_Knock it off_**. Claire buried her fingers in her hair and brought her knees close to her chest. "Get out of my head!" 

"Toxin," Venom spat. "Stop." He crouched near the trembling woman and carefully brought his hand to her face, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She whimpered when she felt his foreign hand skim her cheek. "Now, now, you're okay. That's just Toxin speaking to you." Her breath was shaky as she daringly looked into Venom's monstrous eyes. 

"What are you talking about?" She watched as half of his face revealed a man underneath, speaking along with Venom as he replied.

"You are Toxin's host, just as Eddie is mine." His face returned to normal and she swallowed, feeling only slightly relieved that there was an actual person behind this. Sort of. 

"What are you...?" His eyes narrowed slightly at her question. 

"Some would call me a parasite. I am merely an outcasted being that cannot live on planet Earth without a host. Your parasite is just as I am. Her name is Toxin. Treat her well." Her heartbeat sped up faster every moment she stared into Venom's bottomless eyes. His tough voice made her insides quiver with fear. "Now, enough questions," He said as he stood and looked down at her. "Toxin will be taking over shortly." She hurried to her feet when he began walking towards a lone window on the other side of the room.

"Take over? What's that supposed to mean?" He turned his face to the side to answer as he paused walking.

"Toxin and I have some... unfinished business to attend to." He faced her fully now. "Don't worry, you'll be able to see everything. You just won't be in control." 

"Wait!" He watched her intently, her heart beating so hard she thought it would burst right through her chest. "Why me?" Venom paused for a second, seemingly deciding whether or not he should answer her question.

"Because you have something no one else has." He jerked his head to the side and cracked his neck before referring to her parasite. "Toxin?" Claire felt herself slipping away, her arms and legs being overcome by black goo and her face becoming submerged in a mask. Toxin rolled her shoulders and neck, shaking her wrists once to get used to her new host before eyeing Venom with a sinister smile. 

"Ready for instructions, sir."

<<<<<<>>>>>>

Peter paced anxiously across the floor of Tony's lab. Everyone was currently on the lookout for any suspicious activity or clues that would lead them to Claire, but as of now, nothing seemed to be showing. Widow, being the hacker spy that she is, got into all security cameras throughout the city while Tony was tracking through his satellites. Clint was standing behind Widow while mumbling incoherent words to her with his arms crossed and Steve was leaning on a table next to Tony constantly asking him questions and burdening him. Peter listened as the two bickered. Steve would bring up an idea and Tony would annoyingly telling him he'd already done or tried to do it. Peter's head stung as if someone had thrown a rock at him. He flinched and yelped, his head jerking to the side and his hand coming to his temple to try to dull the pain. Everyone looked at him with confusion.

"Uh, you okay, Pete?" Clint asked him curiously. Peter blinked a few times before shaking his head and placing his finger to his temple.

"Y-yeah, I'm good. Sorry guys." Everyone continued on with their work, Tony and Steve resuming their bickering and the other two silently looking for unknown answers. Peter's senses zoned in on the now dull strike that he felt on his skin. He imagined it was Claire that was lightly tracing his cheek, running her delicate hand along his face in a comforting manner. He sighed in content until a sudden 'boom' erupted in his head and he screamed in pain, stumbling backward and knocking a computer off the desk of a table. He grunted and then fell to the ground, his head pounding as voices ate at his conscious thought.

 _“Peter-_ _ **No**_ _. I... they..._ _ **Enough**_ _\- they're going to-_ _ **SILENCE**_!”

He gripped at his hair as his head spun in confusion and his focus faltered. He couldn't hear anything as his blurry vision caught slow-moving objects in the corners of his eyes. The figures stopped before him and he could barely feel Steve shaking him as the voices abruptly stopped and he came into a shock when he heard everyone screaming at him.

"-er, can you hear me?! Come on kid, snap out of it!" Peter blinked multiple times before gazing foggily up at the Captain and desperately gripping onto his arm. 

"S-something's wrong! It was Claire! She was trying to talk to me but something was stopping her from doing it, and I couldn't understand anything she was saying-" Steve clasped both of his shoulders tightly.

"Peter! You need to calm down or _we_ won't be able to understand _you_." Peter swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry as he took a shaky breath.

"Claire and I can communicate telepathically because we share the same radioactive component," He explained to them, his eyes dancing across each Avenger's face. "Just now she was trying to talk to me, to tell me something. But there was something cutting her off, something that wasn't letting her come in enough contact for me to understand her. That's not good," He finished. Then a small alarm buzzed throughout the room. They all looked towards where the sound was coming from. Nat jogged to her computer, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she leaned down towards her computer screen and furrowed her eyebrows. She pursed her lips and shook her head, pulling up a hologram of what she had pulled up on her computer screen. The frozen camera footage showed two streaked figures, a larger one and a smaller one, both black as night and monstrous-looking. They were caught in action hopping across rooftops. The redhead stood straight and crossed her arms, looking at the hologram in front of her along with everyone else.

"We've got a lead."


	14. Lead Gone Wrong

Peter launched himself from building to building, fully content with being seen now that he was in his uniform. The mask muffled the wind around his ears. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang were in cars following the signal they'd seen Venom and his companion at. Peter was also trying to help by keeping an eye out for any buzzing or chills, a sign Claire would have been near. 

"We're getting close," Nat said over the com. "Keep your eyes peeled." Then Clint came on.

"Roger that, Nat." There was a slight pause before Steve stepped in. "Peter, you said you can communicate with Claire, right?" 

"Um... yes? But she's being blocked, remember?" He answered as he jumped off the edge of a building and shot a web at a billboard. 

"Why don't you try contacting her instead?" He landed on top of it in a crouch.

"Got it." Not even a second later, he was closing his eyes and concentrating on reaching Claire.

<<<<<<>>>>>>

Venom and Toxin continued running from building to building, not really caring whether they'd be seen or not. It's not like they were going to crawl around the sewers; they were still civilized people. Claire's stomach churned at the thought of what was about to happen. After Toxin had taken over her body, Claire had gained all knowledge of the alienate. In a way, she wished she hadn't. 

"We're almost there," Venom gurgled.

" _Claire? Can you hear me?_ " Her stomach fluttered at Peter's voice, whereas Toxin snarled and shook her head violently in discomfort. " _Claire?_ " Toxin roared and stumbled to the side, losing her stride next to Venom and backing away on a building rooftop. Venom looked back annoyingly at her. 

"What are you doing?" He spat. Toxin looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"It's the boy. He's trying to get to the girl." That made the monster smile, his teeth showing in a terrifying manner. 

"You know what to do," He said. "She still has her earpiece in, right?" Toxin revealed half of Claire's face, making both beings nod in unison. Claire didn't have any physical control over her body. 

"Yes." Claire's hand was relieved of goo as she pressed the com in her ear, making sure she was only speaking to Peter. The voice that came out of her was her own, not Toxin's. "Peter?" He responded immediately.

"Claire?! Where are you?!" 

"At the old warehouse near the city bank. Please hurry, Peter. I'm scared." 

"I'm on my way, and I'm bringing the others-"

"No!" Toxin said suddenly. "Come alone. Venom can sense when large numbers of people are around," She lied. "Come by yourself, there will be a greater chance of getting me out of here." She could tell Peter was uneasy about this, but who could deny the chance to save his precious girlfriend?

"O-okay, fine. I'm coming." Toxin pulled her hand away, reattaching her black ink-like substance and cutting off the communication line. Claire's face was also submerged, and she turned to Venom with an evil smile.

"He's coming."

<<<<<<>>>>>>

Peter had a bad feeling about this. He was torn between going alone like Claire had asked him to and telling the team about how she'd contacted him. What didn't make sense, though, was that she did it through the coms. If she wanted to talk to him directly why wouldn't she have just done it telepathically? He grunted in frustration as he leaped off the billboard and headed for the warehouse. 

When he got there, he landed silently on the roof. The place was quite definitely abandoned long ago. The wood around it was rotting and everything was cracking. Silently, he crawled through a broken window and carefully moved across the ceiling. His suit constantly checked for human identification. Peter's attention landed on a bright red circle in his eye detectors that attached itself to someone.

Claire.

He swiftly hopped down from the ceiling, his heart panging when he saw she was tied to a chair, her head hanging like she was exhausted. Her eyes opened and her head slowly lifted with recognition when she heard him land. But Peter was alarmed when her eyes widened, not with relief, but fear. He quickly made his way to her, placing his gloved hand on her cheek and resting his forehead on hers. 

"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner," He said as he sliced through the rope with a small built-in knife attacked to his fingertip. 

"P-Peter, you have to get out of here!" He squinted with confusion as he cut the last rope. 

"What are you talking about?" 

"They're going to-" Before she could finish, Peter felt a sharp electric shock on the back of his shoulder. Venom held the taser tightly against his clothed skin before letting him fall to the floor unconscious. He smiled at Claire.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you want to finish?"

"You bastard," Claire growled at him. He just shrugged and tossed the taser aside.

"It's what I'm best at being. Come along, Toxin." Claire was once again involuntarily shoved into a dreamlike state as her body was taken over again.

<<<<<<>>>>>>

Peter's head ached as he awoke from his unconscious state. He cursed himself for letting this happen. He should have known better, he should have called the team. This isn't what heroes do. 

"Finally, you're awake," He heard Venom say. Peter blinked tensely as there was a light shining above him. When his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he realized he was cuffed to a tilted operational table. He looked up, noticing his mask had been taken off. Peter expected to see Venom and Claire. He was partially correct, seeing the vicious monster that he'd encountered earlier during the helicopter chase, but he didn't see Claire anywhere. 

"Where's Claire?" He demanded. 

"Why she's right here," Venom said, raising his arm in a gesturing way towards someone farther away. Peter waited for Claire to come out. Instead, he saw a female version of Venom. She walked out, her eyes trained on Peter, as she stopped by Venom's side.

"What have you done to Claire?" 

"Claire is still here," The female said monstrously as she revealed a portion of Claire's face behind the black suit of ink. "I," She reversed her action so she was once again whole. "Am Toxin." 

"You bitch," Peter cursed through clenched teeth. 

"Ooh, feisty." Toxin approached Peter without hesitation, her long tongue extending out to his cheek. "I like that." Peter turned away, attempting to escape the action. 

"That's enough, Toxin." She backed away and allowed Venom to take her place next to him. 

"Sooo isn't this the part where you tell me what your plan is?" Peter asked. Venom hooked his hand around Peter's neck and let strings of his black goo restrain Peter's arms, hands, and the rest of his body. He smiled menacingly at the spiderling.

"How about I just show you."

Venom dragged Peter through many doors until he got to the room he wanted, all the while Peter struggling to breathe from the tight grip of the mutation's hand. Toxin was trailing behind them closely, shutting the door when they entered a dark room. The dimmed room had a large, transparent box in the middle of it which Peter was thrown into. He coughed vigorously when Venom's death grip was finally released, crouching on the ground for a minute before standing and glaring at the two villains. It angered him that Venom had dragged Claire into this. 

"Are you gonna tell me why Claire was your first-choice victim?" He spat. Venom paced slowly as he talked.

"Claire Stacy has abilities that nobody else possesses," He explained, then glanced at Peter. "Not even you." Peter's nose wrinkled in annoyance and his eyebrows furrowed together.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Venom walked over to Toxin and placed his hands on her shoulders from behind. 

"You see, Spider-Man," Venom cooed as Toxin revealed a small portion of the middle of Claire's chest/collarbone area, luckily not showing anything more. Peter noticed a small, round, glowing pendant attached to her skin. It looked a lot like... his stomach knotted. It looked exactly like Tony's arc reactor. "Your girlfriend here has a little, hidden arc reactor that heightens any type of sense she has. And although small," Toxin covered Claire's chest back up. "It's extremely powerful." 

"Where are you going with this?" Peter demanded. Venom smirked as he flipped a switch and lights began coming on row by row. Toxin was grinning, too. Peter watched as the walls of the room became visible. Canisters of organisms were lined on top of each other like bunk beds and they filled three of the four walls in the room. The substances inside them moved like thick oil and crawled around the space. The sight scared Peter. 

"All of these beings you see around the room are my species," Venom announced as he walked around the room. "Just like me, they need a human host in order to live on this planet." Peter heard something behind him. Slowly, he turned around to see a pedestal emerging from the ground. His eyes widened with fear when he realized what was perched on top of it. "I brought Claire here so that she could lure you into this. The Symbiotes will thrive in your environment and latch onto a human just as Toxin has to Claire. You will both go back to the Avengers and lure them into my plan, as well." Suddenly, the canister on the pedestal opened and the creature slowly crawled its way towards Peter. He backed away, his back hitting the glass as it got closer and closer. "The Avengers will convince the world that these Symbiotes are a cure for all sicknesses." The Symbiote crawled up Peter's leg and sank into his chest. Peter felt like throwing up as he felt his body trying to reject the Symbiote. Venom and Toxin watched Peter intently as his body jerked against the unfamiliar substance. "And the world will finally be cleansed of its impurity."

<<<<<<>>>>>>

The rest of the Avengers were still looking for Venom when they realized that Peter was gone and wasn't responding to them. They'd tried multiple times to get a response but did so without luck. Tony spoke worriedly through the coms as he continued searching the perimeter of the city in his high-tech armored suit. 

"I've just lost my daughter and my basically-implied son on the same day, guys. There's gotta be something that we can do to figure out where they are, or at least where Pete is." Steve sighed in the passenger seat of the car he was riding in. Natasha insisted on driving. Deciding to respond, Steve took a breath to speak but was cut short when Nat took a sharp turn to the right, catching the super-soldier off guard. He looked at her with furrowed eyebrows and wide eyes.

"Seriously, Nat?" She merely shrugged her shoulders and smirked.

"My car, my way." He shook his head with a small smile before speaking back to Tony.

"We'll figure something out, Tony. I'm sure the kid is just fine." Tony rolled his eyes as he flew higher into the sky.

"I'm conducting a facial scan throughout the city. While I'm doing that, it would be rather helpful if someone could get a hold of the tracker I put in Peter's suit."

"On it," Clint responded before he cut off his line. A few seconds later Tony spoke to his voice command agent.

"Friday, begin a facial scan for me please." 

"Right away, sir," The female voice echoed before Tony saw many red lasered lines appear in the birds-eye-view of his mask. Hundreds of faces scrolled through his screen. "Who am I looking for, Mr. Stark?"

"Claire Stacy and Peter Parker." After a minute of searching, the search lines disappeared and Friday spoke: "No match found." Tony frowned deeply and turned on his communication device.

"Guys, I've got no matches on either of the kids. Either they're not in the city or they're being held underground somewhere."

"Oh they're in the city, alright," Clint said matter of factly. Clint gazed at a red blinking dot on his computer screen as he sat in the driver's seat of his black vehicle, parked on the side of the road. He'd made sure to turn on his privacy blinds around each window of the car. "Peter's tracker is located at some old abandoned warehouse." Steve shook his head gently.

"What an obvious place to look for two missing kids," He said sarcastically. Nat punched him before drawing her attention back to the road. "Ow, what the hell?" She frowned as her eyes darted across the windshield.

"Your sarcasm sucks and this is a serious matter of circumstances." Steve adjusted himself in his seat and looked forward again. 

“Sending coordinates now,” Clint confirmed. Tony replied in a matter of milliseconds.

"Alright guys, you heard him. We'll meet there."

Little did they know that the victims were waiting for them at the warehouse...


	15. A Bigger Picture

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows as she continued through the crowded New York traffic of the overpopulated city.

"Something's not right here, Steve," She told the Captain as he sat next to her with his elbow propped up against the door. With a glance, she could see his Captain America suit hidden under the trench coat he covered it with. His shield was in the back seat.

"Yeah," He agreed. "I don't like this. It's too-"

"Easy," The Russian spy finished. "All of this is too simple. There's gotta be something hidden behind all of this." Natasha tapped the touchscreen in her sleek, black car and clicked on the public communication line. "Are Steve and I the only ones that think something else is going on here?” Tony was the first to respond.

"Frankly I'm not focused on that right now. I want my kids back." Steve rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"We understand that, Tony. We're all focused on that. But we have to make sure that we're not running into a trap here, either. Venom is probably waiting for us at that warehouse looking out the window expecting us to come rushing in for our teammates. There's no doubt he's got something bigger up his sleeve." Before Tony could respond, Nat interrupted.

"Clint," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Since I'm driving right now I need you to look something up for me, even though I'd easily be able to do it from my touch screen. I don't want to give Cap more of a heart attack than he's already having." With that said she cut another sharp corner, Steve holding on to the handle attached to the ceiling of the car as tight as he could. Clint chuckled.

"What do you need?"

"Look up Venom's last case and what it dealt with." A few minutes later Clint responded.

"Venom, the Symbiote of Eddy Brock, stopped another alien of his kind from sending a rocket into space that was going to invade our planet and basically make it its own." 

"Cool," Tony commented sarcastically. "So he's a good and a bad guy. Question is, who is he trying to be right now? I'll answer... the bad guy." Ignoring Tony, Steve asked: 

"So if he was the good guy in that last scenario, what could he possibly be trying to accomplish by kidnapping Claire and Peter?" 

"Can you look any further into this, Clint?" Natasha asked. "Do you think there are any computers inside of that warehouse?" About a minute passed before he responded.

"Yep, there are. Good thinking, Nat." Natasha smirked at the congratulations. "It looks like there are some blueprints to a type of jet," He confirmed with a tone of confusion and awe. "The jet has special luggage compartments for something, almost like something you'd see when animals were to be transported from point 'A' to point 'B'." Another slight pause. "And there's another spot at the front of the plane that's supposed to carry a major power source. Guys, I don't think this jet is meant to run on gasoline." 

"Well, then what the hell is it supposed to be run on?" Steve asked impatiently.

"Hey, hi, um, maybe you guys forgot about the focus?" Tony said sarcastically. Clint responded.

"Tony."

"What?" Tony responded irritably. You could hear the annoyance in his voice as he spoke.

"I don't think you should go to the warehouse." 

"Bullshit! I'm not going to sit around when my family is being held hostage by the criminal!"

"Tony, you need to listen to me," Clint said calmly. "The powerhouse Venom is going to use for the jet is your arc reactor." There was a long, dreaded pause and an almost incoherent 'shit' as everyone waited for him to respond. Natasha and Steve glanced at each other when he was taking longer than he should have been.

"Tony?" Steve said. 

"They're not after my arc reactor," Tony said with a frenzied tone. His voice was shaking.

"But you're the only one-"

"No," He said sternly. "Claire... Claire has one too. She had heart problems as a child so I gave her one. It's smaller than mine but it's even more powerful." Clint felt his stomach sink as Tony's words registered in his brain. "We need to get there now!" 

Claire and Peter sat tied to chairs in the same spot Peter had found Claire in when he came looking for her. Peter felt tired from when the alien took over his body. It was rested away, for now, allowing Peter full control of his body, but only until his team arrived. He could still hear it speaking to him in his thoughts, though. The alien called himself Destro. Peter glanced over at his girlfriend in her chair about three feet away from him. She was hunched over, her breathing light yet deep. If she didn't have rope keeping her tight to the chair she'd have surely fallen over. Peter felt his heart aching to help her, hold her, soothe her. Tell her he was sorry for letting all of this happen. He sighed and looked away with guilt. 

"Claire... I'm sorry." He watched as her eyes opened slowly and she looked over at him, not bothering to sit up straight. 

"For what?" Peter stared at the ground as he spoke. He was embarrassed that he'd let any of this happen in the first place. He was supposed to be the hero that saved his girl, just like in all of the movies. 

"I shouldn't have let him get you... I should have tried harder to stay attached to that helicopter." He opened his mouth to say more, but then closed it. He did that many times before continuing. "If I had just called the rest of the team like I knew I should have-"

"Stop," She said softly. "Now isn't the time for that. You have nothing to apologize for. You couldn't have done anything more to prevent this from happening-"

"Yes I could have Claire," He intervened. "I could have stopped this whole fiasco from happening if I'd just tried harder to get you back." He looked into her eyes now. They were red and tired. "I'm supposed to save you. That's how this was supposed to go." Peter glanced at the binds around his torso then back at Claire. "But look at me. I'm roped to a fucking chair and taken over by an alien from another planet, just waiting for our friends to get here so that they can be taken over, too." Claire watched as Peter shook his head angrily. She could feel the anxiety and emotions rolling off him. She blinked once before taking a deep breath.

"I love you, Peter." He glanced at her with a much softer expression than he had just a second ago. Claire could see that what she'd said made an impact on him, even if he was in a character that wasn't much like himself at all. This alien that had latched themselves onto the spiderlings was draining. It took a lot to shift back and forth between beings. His body relaxed the slightest bit as he responded.

"I love you too, Claire." A moment after they confessed to each other, Natasha jumped down from the roof. A small cloud of dust surrounded her as her feet hit the floor. The two captives looked up at her with fear because they both knew what was about to happen. They didn't want the rest of their family to become trapped the way they were. A quiet pattering came from the other side of the room and was quickly closing in on where Nat stood. Peter knew that sound all too well; it haunted his thoughts. The alien Symbiote came rushing towards the Russian spy with great speed, jumping up as to latch onto her body. "Natasha-" An arrow was shot at the blob of ink from above, the alien shooting back and squealing as the arrow electrocuted it. Peter and Claire looked up to find a straight-faced Clint in full gear, many arrows noticeably sticking out of the back of his ammunition compartment. 

"What the hell was that?!" He called from above. Peter's body was taken over by Destro, the rope containing his body snapping and his size growing dramatically. Claire stared at the creature in horror.

"That!" Claire confirmed. "And that'll be you if the Symbiotes get you!" Immediately after saying that, Claire was taken over as well, Toxin overflowing her body with black goo and roaring after she was fully constructed. 

"Um, Cap? We've got a situation!" Clint yelled into his com. Destro and Toxin charged after Natasha as well as other un-hosted aliens. Steve ran into the room in full uniform, his shield so shiny it was blinding, with Tony flying in behind him. 

"What the hell?!" Tony exclaimed as he saw the fight going down. "There are three now?!" 

"Those are the kids!" Clint screamed as he kept firing his arrows. 

"You're not serious."

"I'm serious, smart guy. Venom transformed them with these alien things." Deciding they'd talked enough, Tony helped with keeping the Symbiotes away from Natasha as she continued to dodge from Toxin and Destro. Steve joined her in taking them on, Nat muttering a small 'thanks' while keeping her guard up. It wasn't long until Venom made his grand entrance, roaring and snarling to get everyone's attention. 

"I see you decided to show up," He growled as Toxin and Destro took their place next to him.

"What kind of game are you playing, Daddy-Long-Legs?" Tony called as he hovered in the air. "Actually, I don't know that I care. I think I'll just blow you up instead." That being said, he raised his palms towards the monster and charged his laser cannons. Venom raised his eyebrows and grabbed Toxin next to him, dragging her in front of him and telling her to retreat. Claire was revealed as she did so. She gasped and coughed when Toxin sank away from her face. 

"What a pity it would be for you to murder your own daughter, hm?" Venom teased. Tony didn't falter, though.

"You'll release her if you know what's good for you," Tony warned. The monster only shook his head.

"So hostile. I tell you what," Venom unzipped a small portion of Claire's hoodie that covered up her arc reactor, letting its light shine brightly throughout the room. Claire gasped when Venom placed his pointer finger and thumb around it as to take it out. "Back down or she dies." The threat rang in everyone's ears as it was said aloud. All eyes were on Tony and what he was going to do in this situation. He watched as his daughter gazed up at him with fear. At that moment he knew what he had to do. Tony lowered his arms slowly.

"If it's the reactor you want, take mine and leave Claire alone." His daughter's eyes widened at his statement. "And leave my family alone." He pointed to Destro. "Get that thing off of Peter and let my daughter walk away from this without a scratch and you'll have yourself a deal, eh?" 

"No, dad!" Claire screamed as she tried getting away from Venom's grasp. Venom squinted thoughtfully. This wasn't part of the plan, but if it gave him a chance to kill Iron Man for good, what was the point of not taking up the offer? Finally, Venom looked at Tony, though he spoke to his alien friends.

"Toxin, Destro, retreat." Destro sank away from Peter's body, melting to the floor in an oily heap and scurrying away towards an unknown area, as did Toxin. Then Venom pushed Claire aside. "Now give me my wager." Venom ran towards Tony, the Iron Man not bothering to move. Instead, he closed his eyes and waited for the blow, and when it did, Tony felt as though the life had been ripped out of him. Literally. He fell to the floor as his reactor was ripped from his chest, his now useless armor weighing him down to the floor with a nasty thump. Venom sprinted away with the heart of a hero, nobody bothering to stop him because they were too stunned by what had just happened. Mustering up what strength they had left, Peter and Claire rushed to Tony's side while desperately trying to keep him awake and alert as to what was going on. Steve tried lifting him, but the weight of his dead suit was too much for him to be able to move Tony even an inch.

"Dad!" Claire screamed. "Dad, no, please stay awake. Please. Don't you dare close your eyes on me!" But Tony couldn't help it as everything blurred together. Soon everything became nothing and all he could sense was darkness.


	16. Recovery

Claire sat anxiously in the Stark Tower lounge, Peter next to her holding her close to him while whispering reassuring things into her ear. She didn’t know what to think after everything that happened in the warehouse. The sight of Venom basically taking Tony’s life tore her heart in two, and it only angered her more that he got away with the arc reactor. She closed her eyes as she felt Peter’s reassuring hand on her waist then sighed when he kissed her temple. When Tony’s reactor was removed, Nat called for emergency backup from Nick Fury and he flew in a helicopter to get him back to his lab immediately. Soon arrival Pepper was already getting his spare reactor ready. Ever since the first time his reactor was forcibly taken from him, Pepper made sure he kept spares in a very secure location in his lab for fear it might happen again. _Ironic,_ Claire thought to herself. She watched Tasha as she sat across from them, both her arms and legs crossed as if telling people not to bother her. An invisible wall. Steve was leaning against the glass door to the balcony. He looked as if he was trying to grasp the fact that only twenty-four hours ago Venom had taken her away. Clint was in the kitchen on the phone with Laura, speaking lowly as if the situation implied he should do so. Claire snuggled deeper into Peter's chest, loving the way her skin tingled when it came in contact with his. They were both extremely tired, feeling as though the aliens that attached themselves to their bodies sucked a few years of life away. 

Claire's eyes shot open when she heard the elevator doors open, then rose herself quickly off the couch when she realized it was Pepper that walked out. Quickly, she ran to her, seeking a much-needed hug from her most known mother figure. 

"Mom," She greeted as Pepper pulled her close and stroked her hair delicately. 

"Hi, Sweetie." They pulled away, the older woman, yet still strikingly beautiful, still running her fingers along Claire's silky brown hair. "He's alright." A sigh of relief escaped Claire's lips, along with a heavy weight on her shoulders she hadn't even realized was there. Everyone in the room was watching them, Steve taking a few steps closer so he was standing behind Natasha.

"C-can I see him?" It took everything Claire had not to break down right there and then. But she knew that her dad wouldn't want her crying over him unless he was truly gone. Pepper nodded her head with a soft smile. 

"He's waiting for you." Claire didn't waste a moment waiting as she walked to the elevator and calmly pushed the button with the number ninety-three on it. The ride up was torturingly long, Claire watching the numbers of each floor change slowly. Her breath hitched when the elevator finally stopped and the doors opened. She slowly made her way out, the fierce air conditioning chilling her skin through her Coca-Cola t-shirt and jean shorts. Looking around, she saw that everything looked normal until her gaze steeped right. There she saw Tony trying to sit up in his somewhat-hospital bed-styled recliner. Immediately she walked over to him, carefully pressing his chest down so he would go back to lying on the bed. 

"Rest." Tony rolled his eyes but complied, lowering himself back down gently. 

"You can tell Pepper raised you. You don't let me get away with anything." That brought a smile to Claire's lips. She glanced at his heart rate monitor, watching the lines beep perfectly in synchronization. 

"How are you feeling?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm alive, aren't I?" Her head bobbed up and down, almost as if she were in a small trance. She often stared off into the distance when she was tired.

"I missed you, dad," She cooed as she took a seat on the edge of the bed. He turned his head to look at her easier, his eyes tired-looking and dull. 

"I've only been out for a few hours." 

"Well when it's a life or death situation it feels like an eternity," She countered, however, it wasn't meant to sass him in any way. She felt her throat tighten up and her eyes begin to water, not being able to hold back her emotions any longer. Her next words came out in a hushed whisper. "I'm sorry..." She couldn't bring herself to look at him for fear she'd choke up even more, even as tears began sliding down her face and her nose became stuffed. Tony looked at her with squinted eyes, almost as if he was making sure she was one hundred percent crying before making his next move. He lifted his hand to place it on top of hers. 

"Honey, I'd like you to look at me please." She didn't completely turn her face towards him; only enough to be able to see him in the corner of her eye. But with another hand-squeeze from Tony, she finally looked into his eyes. "None of this was your fault."

"But it was," She argued softly. "If I hadn't lost my temper and went out onto that balcony none of this would have happened-"

"And how do you know that?" He asked with a hint of sternness in his voice. "How do you know Venom wouldn't have come after you at any other time?" She opened her mouth to say something but closed it when she found it would be irrelevant. 

"If you would have died..." 

"I'm right here, Claire. I'm not dead." He paused. "But if I ever do die from a mission remember then I'm still the hero." She giggled at his still-strong optimism. 

"Oh really?"

"Yup. I even made myself a new pair of tech glasses, her name is EDITH. You know what it stands for?" She shook her head, waiting for him to answer as he took his hand more fully into her hand. "Even Dead I'm The Hero." She shook her head again, this time with a smile, and laughed at him.

"Full of yourself much?' He shrugged and made a funny-looking face, consisting of a drooping mouth and raised eyebrows. Then he smiled widely at his daughter.

"Gotta make sure people know who made the most sacrifices." His smile faded just the slightest as he watched her. Seeing the tears rolling down her cheeks broke his heart. As tough as he held his own on the outside, he always had a soft spot for Claire. Watching his little girl cry, even as a young child, was hard for him. And gazing at her now, he could tell she still felt like most of this was her fault. "You know I love you, honey," He told her. "And that I would do everything in my power to make sure you made it home safely every single night." Claire gazed at him with guilty eyes. Seeing this, he jerked his head for her to lay down next to him. She did as asked, carefully lowering herself next to his side and letting her father wrap his arm around her in a small, comforting embrace. Claire couldn't remember the last time they'd done something like this. "I think the last time we cuddled like this was when you were nine years old," He said, somehow reading her thoughts. 

"I think that reasoning is because I'm much bigger than I was when I was nine, dad." He squeezed her for a moment before releasing her. 

"You're my little girl. I'll never let you grow up." She smiled and sighed at the reassurance in his tone of voice. 

"Dad... I really am sorry. It pisses me off that Venom got away with the reactor" He kissed her forehead with a fatherly tenderness only Claire knew she could feel.

"About that," He said. "The reactor he took from me won't be able to power his jet." 

"What?"

"You're arc reactor is more powerful than mine. The amount of electricity he needed for that thing required your reactor. Mine won't get him anywhere off that landing strip." A sigh of relief escaped Claire's lips at the relieving news. "I'm sorry too," He continued. "I lost my temper on the balcony just as much as you did. I could have handled the situation so much better." He paused for a slight moment. "And as for what happened at the warehouse, I did what any father would have done. What any _Avenger_ would have done." He paused again. "Speaking of which... I think you're ready." Claire's eyebrows furrowed.

"What do you mean?" 

"I meeeaaan," He sang. "That I think you're ready to become part of the Avengers." She turned her head to him quickly, her face shocked. He smiled down at her, teeth showing and all.

"For real?" 

"I am many things, dear, but one of them is not a liar." She kissed his cheek giddily and rose from the bed, doing a small dance of her own as she was unable to contain her happiness. "Jesus, calm down! My heart's going to explode just watching you." With another laugh from both of them, Claire hugged her father dearly.

"Thank you."

<<<<<<>>>>>>

_Six weeks later..._

Claire sat in her room on her sofa, coffee mug in hand and book in the other. She wasn't usually the type to like getting up in the morning but being part of an elite team of superheroes didn't exactly let her sleep in anymore. She'd gotten used to waking up and hitting the gym right away. She liked being in there when nobody else was. It gave her time to focus on her task at hand. Her hair was still damp from her shower as she sipped her coffee. Claire wasn't a fan of plain coffee; she preferred it if it had french vanilla creamer in it. A sigh escaped her lips as she relished in the smoothness of her drink and continued reading her book, _Betrothed To War_. Her attention didn't falter when she heard the bathroom door squeak open. 

"Good morning," Peter greeted her as he walked down the short hallway in their apartment. He was still tucking his towel around his hips as he neared her. 

"Good morning, love." Her attention soon wavered from her book when she realized all Peter had to cover himself was a towel. She and Peter had decided to move in together after Claire was sworn into the Avengers. Walking over to her, he pecked her temple and sat down next to her, cupping her cheek as he playfully rubbed their noses together. Claire smiled with a giggle. Peter loved the way she laughed.

"How did you sleep?" Claire, without taking her eyes off of her delicious boyfriend, placed her bookmark in her book and placed it on the coffee table along with her now empty mug.

"I slept well. I always do when you're there next to me." She nuzzled his neck in a comforting manner, allowing herself to wallow in his manly scent of aftershave. Peter ran his fingers through her slightly tangled hair. "God, you smell amazing." Peter chuckled.

"Thank you, babe." Heaven faded when Peter rose from the couch, snatching Claire's mug from the table and taking it with him to the kitchen. "What's on the agenda today?" Claire swiveled her gaze onto Peter and his muscular structure until the lower half of his body was covered by the kitchen counter looking into the living room. 

"All we have today is patrol duty, I believe." Peter nodded at her confirmation as placed her cup in the sink and got himself a freshly clean one from the cupboard, then poured himself a small cup of coffee. She admired the way his arms flexed when he moved them. 

"Do you know what time?" 

"Four-to-eight, why?" Peter sipped his drink slowly, turning towards her with his body still hidden behind the counter. His smoldering brown eyes gazed at her with a hunger Claire knew he only showed for her, and it made her stomach flutter. He stood straight up with a clearing of his throat, reaching down towards what seemed to be his towel. Then, to Claire's pleasure, he held his towel up above the countertop in his left hand, letting it drop to the floor just next to it where she could see it. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth as she stared at it, then looked at a smirking Peter, who was still concealed behind the countertop. 

"What do you say we have some fun?"


End file.
